To Be Young Again
by TightropeDancing
Summary: Brago is dared by Sherry to eat a Mushroom of Time from Ranma OneHalf, turning him into a six year old. Due to an offseason, it's impossible to get another to change him back. What problems might this cause? T for mild language.
1. Mushrooms

One day, I found myself wondering what Brago would look like as a six-year old, and it grew from there. So, I got an idea, and am beginning to write it.

Okay, fanfiction-readers… Here are some notes:

1) I'm an inexperienced writer….. So this'll suck. Bad. Please excuse any OOCness….

2) I made up maybe one or two small facts about the Mushrooms of Time. Like the off-season.

3) Anything that sounds really, really, really weird is probably an inside joke that I couldn't help throwing in.

4) I like repeating words… I can stop, if you threaten me with pitchforks/chainsaws/your mamono/blackmail/flamethrowers/furbies/machine guns ect.

5) Irrelevant Question: Do you know anyone/know anyone who knows anyone that was abducted by aliens? I may explain later.

6) I know that was retarded…. But if anyone has any suggestions… I'd really like hear them.

7) I'll probably use mostly Japanese names, unless I feel like using the English one… I'll stick to one version of the name with one character, but… hey… There are just ways I feel more comfortable spelling the names.

8) And this is before Zophise goes bye-bye. Got it?

Now, for the main attraction!

I don't own Konjiki no Gash Bell or the Mushrooms of Time.

Two miserable, miserable, miserable weeks had passed since the incident. But whether they had been miserable or not depended on whom you asked.

For Brago, they had been worse than hell. Far, far worse. Why, may you ask?

On a trip hunting a mamono in a forest, the duo had settled down by their fire after an easy victory. Sherry was half starving. She hadn't eaten in a few days, maybe almost a week, and it showed.

Though it had been late at night, Brago told her they had rested long enough; she had passed out earlier and he had to carry her on his back. Wasn't that sleep? (She had been able to walk a good deal off of the battle field, but then…) However, Sherry didn't have enough energy to stand.

So, Brago had gone out and found her a single mushroom, only 6 centimeters tall. Sherry, however, did not accept it, saying it might be poisonous. After a long "It is not" and "It probably is" argument, Sherry dared her partner to eat it. Being rather angry at her refusal to eat, Brago put it in his mouth and swallowed without chewing, not caring to taste the disgusting human food.

As soon as it had passed down his throat, he felt his heart thump… and he strarted shrinking. A weirdo guide had jumped out and told him the effects, and treated Sherry to some instant ramen from a thermos.

Brago couldn't believe it. He had turned into a small child because of a mushroom. And according to the weird human guide, they wouldn't grow for another ten months due to an off-season. He had eaten the last one… He could probably finish the stupid battle for king by then, as the numbers had dropped so fast. He could NOT go back to the Makai a six-year-old!

Now, at Sherry's house, he had been going through hell, as all of the maids were calling him cute, a few of the older ones even pinched his cheeks. And he always thought that was a stereotype…

Even Sherry had, at times, told him he was adorable… Torture. Damn cuteness, he scolded in his head. And, now in the body of a six-year old child, he was weak! His physical strength was pathetic! That, for him, was the worst part of it.

Sherry had been enjoying the last two weeks, due to the now-cuteness of her partner. His once frightening dark glares now looked more like pouting, and she had reason to believe his six-year-old body was now making him need to sleep a just a little… She had caught him yawning, and found a blanket in an incredibly small alcove in one of the house's many libraries. He also had trouble adjusting to his size, it was funny when he couldn't reach the doorknobs so he could go in and out of the house. He had to jump, and really, really, really hated it if Sherry ever opened them for him. Sherry did always find them a little higher off the ground then at most houses…

Up to this point, Brago had been wearing Jii's cousin's best friend's daughter's son's clothing. He hated them; they were far too bright and cheery for his liking. Sherry had ordered a few outfits to be custom made for him. There weren't too many black outfits for six-year-olds, after all. At least he knew these would be the color of his choice, unless Sherry was pulling something funny.

Sherry thought that giving the mamono a bubble bath would be fun, he was so little now. He was about the size of Gash Bell, actually. In some ways, Sherry envied the bookkeepers of the younger mamono, as they didn't get a concentrated ball of darkness like Brago. They got cute children. But, Brago had been becoming just slightly nicer, slowly. Sherry liked this change, and was sure Brago would rule his world well. She would miss him, once he was gone though.

Brago walked up behind her, and called her name. "Sherry, is it time to get those new clothes at that store?" He was sick of wearing the yellow shirt and light blue pants…. How he hated the happy, happy clothing he had been forced in. At least they weren't pink, he'd rather walk around naked than wear that horrid color. He wondered why Sherry always wore pink. Well, she had a white gown, but she didn't wear it much.

"Oh! Yeah, today's Tuesday!" Sherry said, just remembering what day it was.

"Then let's go," said Brago irritably. He imagined the fun burning the set of clothes he was currently in later. Or, he at least imagined the closest thing to fun for him.

Brago never did like riding in cars. Stupid human transportation. Well, it was faster than walking, he'd give them that… He hated it more when he couldn't even see out the window the inside could be so boring, except maybe for Sherry. He needed to watch his bookkeeper, right? He was so short now. He now fully understood the plight of Gash Bell and his friends. And it was a plight that he'd have to put up for with at least ten months. Well, not if he could help it. But how…?

Sherry mildly wondered what her partner was thinking. She could sometimes tell to some extent, but not right now. He was off in his own little world, but he looked like he was pouting about something. His expressions looked so different now. It was kind of cute, really.

She tapped him on the shoulder. "You know, you look like you're pouting," she said. He'd get into a very bad mood if someone asked him if there was a problem. She could imagine an older couple asking him if he wanted some candy, and giving him an awful peppermint that had sat in the wife's purse for God knows how long... Despite him saying no. Candy… Had Brago ever had any?

Brago shot her an evil-looking glance. "What?"

Sherry said, "It's just that some people might think there's something wrong with you."

Brago always got stares in public. "So?"

"Never mind," said the human girl, turning toward the window, still pondering about Brago and candy. What would he do on a sugar high? Some strange images came into her mind there.

"Miss Sherry, we're at the mall."

"Mall?" Brago asked. He had been there once… It was not a pleasant experience. There were too many annoying humans talking about annoying human things. "The mall?"

"Yes, Brago, the mall," Sherry said. "The place we ordered your clothing from is a boutique in the mall."

She heard the mamono incomprehensibly mumble something probably not so polite about the mall. Sherry supposed she could torment her now miniscule partner more.

"We're also in a tourist town, so bunches of people will be there, it's huge." And so it was. It was probably among the biggest buildings on Earth, Brago wrongly figured. Well, he was much smaller than he normally was… The only building he had seen in the Makai bigger than this one was the King's Palace. His future home, hopefully. Hopefully? What was he thinking? Of course it'd be his future home, he'd definitely win the battle!

"Thank you very much for shopping here, ma'am," said the clerk to Sherry.

"And thank you for the custom job on such a short notice." said Sherry, giving the clerk a tip for at least three times what the clothes cost.

"Feel welcome to come back," said the woman behind the counter, smiling broadly at the large amount of money which she received.

Sherry left the store to see the mamono throwing away a peppermint from years gone past away. "Damn old humans," he said, earning the glance of a young couple walking past.

"Brago, six year olds don't use word like 'damn' and 'hell'." Sherry said, handing him the bag.

"I only look like a six year old, I'm fourteen, remember, Sherry?" he said with a glare.

Sherry didn't reply.

Brago took a look at the clothing. Black overalls, black shoes, grey socks, and a black and white striped shirt to go under it. Not bad. There was only one problem. "Why the hell is there this… thing on it?" Brago pointed towards a white smiley face on the front of the overalls.

Sherry gave him an evil grin. Evil. "Hey, I couldn't help myself, I thought it was cute," she said.

Well, it was better than what he had on… So he used a changing room in a nearby store, and chose to bear the smiley face. The outfit really wasn't all that bad.

As he walked out to join Sherry and get home from the mall, possibly his least favorite place in this world or the next, a scream of a woman filled the air. Everyone else was silent, and a woman, just younger than Sherry who stepped on her back began to talk.

"Listen here, people. Would the owner of a book like… this," he said, holding up a spell book, which was a dark purple in color, "Please step forward. Araine and I would like a good fight, you'd **better** be scared!"

A mamono girl with long black nails, black hair, and even darker eyes stood behind her.

"Quiet and read a spell, fool," said the mamono known as Araine. "It'll lure them out."

"Fine, fine," said the young woman, preparing to wreak havoc on the mall.

Chapter 1 is done! Review, please! If you flame, please be nice.

Bye!


	2. Battle In The Mall

**Chapter 2: Battle in the Mall**

Now, for a really bad battle scene! Ugh… Well, thank you to those who reviewed. The next few chapters after this'll be Brago-torture. I personally can't wait to write them. If you have any ways you want to see him get tormented, tell me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Konjiki no Gash Bell, or the Mushrooms of Time.

………….

"_Keluto_," said the human, smiling. She was somewhat heavy and wore all black. She had messy hair . Her partner had perfectly straight hair and wore a deep red dress.

"Wherever you are, mamono, we'll find you!" said Araine, her black nails turned long and whip-like. "We'll kill every damn human in this frickin' place of you don't show yourself!"

One of Araine's nails twisted and stabbed the woman that her partner was stepping on as the other people in the mall ran about in panic until only Sherry stood. As Brago ran over to her side, she pulled out the black book.

He looked up at her, she nodded and read the first spell.

"_Reisu!"_

A purplish ball of gravitational energy built up in Brago's hand and shot at Araine.

"Heh…" Araine smiled. One of her rather sharp nail whips twisted and cut the Reisu attack in half. It split apart, damaging the ground on both sides of her, but it didn't touch Araine herself.

"You're going to have to do way better than that. Mhira, another one!" Araine said, her nails beginning to shrink.

"Hehe! Okay, dammit! _Mekeluto_!"

Black smog surrounded Brago and Sherry. They could barely see each other, even though they were only a few feet apart.

"What now?" asked Sherry. Brago didn't answer, he was listening for the opponent's next spell. He couldn't sense the enemy, he figured it was part of the spell.

"_Kelutoda_!" One large, sharp dark blue vine shot at Sherry from behind. Before it could hit her, Brago caught the vine. In his small state, his arms couldn't even reach around it, and he had to jump to catch it.

"Damn," Brago said through gritted teeth. The dark vine was getting hard to hold. Before he ate the stupid mushroom, he could have easily held it, and even threw it back at them. "I'm so damn weak…" he cursed under his breath, blaming the mushrooms. (It was their fault.)

"_Reisu._" Sherry said.

"What the h-----" Brago was about to question his partner, when the Reisu ball went directly from his hand into the vine. It exploded, sending Brago flying a few feet back, to a place where he couldn't even see Sherry.

Damn fog.

He ran in the direction he had some from, and could soon see her in her pink dress. "You could tell me before you do something like that," Brago growled.

Sherry just shrugged and said, "Sorry."

"Did it hit?" A voice belonging to the human, Mhira, was heard.

"No, moron!" said Araine. "The thing exploded!" An impact was heard. It sounded like Araine had hit Mhira, who whimpered as she hit the floor. "Now hurry up and read another damn spell, or I'll hit you again!"

After this, Brago could hear the other pair perfectly. "Sherry." She said her name as he raised his hand toward the source of the noise.

Sherry understood. "_Giganoreisu_!" A larger version of Reisu shot from his hand, and hit Araine, who cussed as the fog started to disperse.

"Dammit! Use Mekeluto again, human!" said Araine.

Brago decided to attack Araine and Mhira, and told Sherry to stay back.

"Look, Araine, I think the little boy's gonna try and hurt us! How old is the kid, anyways?" She giggled slightly.

"Shut up, Mhira, I told you all I wanted to hear from your mouth were the spells. Now use Mekeluto!"

Brago was now close enough to punch Araine. She just stepped back to avoid the blows, it was easy, as his arms were so short. She then kicked him hard in the ribs, and he went flying into the glass window of a store, cracking it. The other humans in the mall must have been hiding behind the clothes racks in the stores, as a few of them screamed when he hit the glass.

"Uh..." Brago's left side hurt. His rib was probably broken.

"_Kelutoda_!" yelled Mhira. Brago got up; ready to dodge, only to find they had been aiming at Sherry, not him.

She was able to sidestep the dark vine that grew from Araine's hands, but the mamono manipulated her spell, turning it around. It hit Sherry in the shoulder.

"Heh heh… How'd you like that? You afraid of our power now?" asked Mhira.

"Idiot," said Araine, slapping her human partner. "That was only a minor wound. And remember, it's my power, not ours. You have only a small part in it."

Araine was right about the wound, Brago had seen Sherry in far, far worse condition. He got up, not minding the pain in his side. It didn't hurt that much, anyways. Brago tried to hit Araine, who easily dodged.

"Dammit! Sherry! **Read a spell**!" Brago yelled.

"_Gurabirei_!" was the response. Araine was held in place by gravity. Sherry read another spell. "_Giganoreisu_!" Araine was sent sprawling on the floor.

"Not bad, little boy," said Araine, getting up off the ground. "Mhira! Read!"

"_Kelu—_" began Mhira, but was cut off when her partner slammed into the ground. Sherry had used Aian Gurabirei.

"Don't call me a little boy," said Brago angrily. Araine struggled against the gravitational force to no avail.

Mhira decided to take things into her own hands, and decided to try fighting hand to hand with Sherry.

"You know I can beat the hell out of ya, blondie!"

"Actually, I don't," said Sherry, dodging Mhira's fists. Sherry kneed Mhira in the stomach, causing her to fall on the floor, still protecting her book.

Now that Aian Gurabirei was no longer in effect, Araine was back to beating on Brago. Her reach was far longer, and couldn't even touch her. She kicked him on the left side, and he flinched in pain, as it was already broken. He fell down, and clenched the area as Araine continued to kick him.

Brago tried to get up, but failed. "Are you really that naïve to think you can beat us? I've been beating your ass in hand to hand, and I can go and kill your partner once I'm done with you." She stepped on Brago's head. "Little kids like you shouldn't mess with grown u—"

Araine was cut short by a scream ripping through the air. Sherry had broken Mhira's wrist. While Brago had been getting kicked around, Sherry and Mhira had continued their fight. It had been even more one-sided than Brago's struggle with Araine.

Araine removed her foot from Brago's head, and turned to see where the yell had come from. "Mhira, you damn idiot! What th—" Once again, Araine couldn't finish her sentence, this time because brago had punched her in the gut.

Mhira was on the floor again, and Sherry read one of Brago's spells. "_Giganoreisu_!"

"I told you not to call me a little kid!" Brago said, energy gathering in his outstretched arm.

"Dammit," said Araine, hunched over from the punch in the stomach. The spell hit her, and she fell to the ground, unable to move. Sherry took the dark purple book from Mhira, and walked over to Brago. They used Reisu to burn it.

"You won, kid," Araine said, becoming transparent. "Gatler'll be pissed… Said he'd make me queen if I took out some mushroom mamono girl. Guess I won't be…" Araine then disappeared.

Gatler? Who was Gatler? And… mushroom girl? Sherry wanted to ask Araine, but her book was long gone. She was back in the Makai. Maybe Mhira knew something. But Mhira wasn't there on the ground where Sherry left her. She had ran.

…………….

Mhira ran as fast as she could to the parking lot and got on her motorcycle. It hurt like hell driving with a broken wrist, but she had to tell Gatler. She had to tell him that this weird gravity kid had taken **her** powers away. Gatler would get revenge… He was far more powerful than Araine… He'd show them the penalty for stealing her powers…

…………….

Brago looked up at Sherry. He'd never noticed how tall she was… She looked down at him. He was so tiny. Sherry walked over to the bag of clothes they had gone to the mall for and picked it up. They had remained untouched, thank God.

The people that had been taking refuge in the storesa began to come out, murmuring slightly, asking what was happening. Sherry could swear she heard something about El Chupacabra.

"How's your side?" Sherry asked, looking at her partner.

"I'm fine, I'm not like you humans," the ash-pale six-year-old said. His side did hurt a little, though. "You should worry more about that shoulder."

Sherry thought back to Araine's words, looking at Brago. Never mind Gatler… who was the mushroom mamono? Could she help Brago? Would she help an enemy? Brago pulled a shard of glass from his hair. He looked up at Sherry.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said.

…………..

Mhira jumped off her motorbike and ran into the warehouse she had stopped at. She ran among the boxes to the back, where two mysterious figures stood, shrouded is shadows.

"Hello, Mhira," the taller one said, opening a pale gray book.

"Araine… Araine's gone… some gravity kid… He took my power! Please… Gatler…"

"You think I couldn't sense her book burning?" asked the shorter of the enigmatic duo. "You think I would care to avenge you? Just as Araine said, you are a fool. And now a useless one, at that." He turned to his tall companion. "Stephon."

"Wh—what are you doing?" asked Mhira, as the book in the tall one's hand began to glow.

"You made a mistake in coming back, Mhira," said the short figure, raising his hand toward her.

"Eh…?" Mhira squeaked, eyes wide.

"_Maguno._"

…………….

The end of Chapter 2! Review or mildew will grow on your shower walls! Thanks for reading! 


	3. The NotSoAmazing Vito Tokoya

**Chapter 3: The Not-So-Amazing Vito Tokoya**

So, this may be a bad chapter… Who am I kidding? It's so bad it isn't even funny! Why is it even funny in the firat place?! Why did I put it up, then? Because I DON'T want magical pancakes to unleash Oompa Loompas upon the world or have an old lady that strangely resembles my math teacher kidnap Brago. (I hate my math teacher! Oh, how I hate her!) I planned this to happen one or two chapters later, but I had no ideas. Well, I had a few, but they all turned out in dead ends. So here it is. And why Tokoya has an Italian first name and Japanese-ish (I made up Tokoya on the spot…) last name… Well, his parents were a teensy bit eccentric with the first name. He's also American of mostly German descent, but his grandfather witnessed a terrible crime and went through all that Witness Protection stuff. Oh, and this chapter doesn't have as much Brago-torture as I'd like… But I see OOCness. And in the immediate future, most OOCness shall be acting…

Now, for the main attraction!

………...

Sherry had rented out the back room in the mansion to a business man named Vito Tokoya. He looked the part, (aside from having _The Amazing Vito Tokoya_ inscribed on his briefcase) but just didn't give off the businessman vibe. He seemed more suited to the manager of a traveling freak show. Brago hated him.

Tokoya was annoying. He was loud. He had a sick sense of humor. He thought he ruled the house. He left his undergarments in places of the mansion he wasn't even allowed into, like the kitchen, where Sherry was supposed to eat. He only rented one room and the bathroom down the hall, for crying out loud…

And Tokoya didn't get the phrase "Shut up." He had been told Brago was a child Sherry took in out of charity, too, and he was always reminded Brago of this made-up fact. Also, Tokoya was always calling Brago nicknames such as "Little Man," and "Big Guy", and sometimes even "Mighty Midget." Anything Brago said just bounced off his head as he laughed something about 'cute!'… He understood nothing. Brago was beginning to think he needed a new approach.

Brago wished he had gone with Sherry. She was going to buy some new clothes and some other supplies in a town quite a long way away. She wouldn't be home that night, and Brago really didn't like hotels much. Brago forgot he'd be alone with Tokoya. Sherry just told him to ignore Tokoya, and that she'd kill him if he hit him.

Really, why did Sherry put up with him? Brago didn't realize that many of the servants who didn't know about Koko and Zophise thought the same about him.

The door clicked open. It was Vito Tokoya. "Helloooo!! Sheeeerrry! I'm homeeee!" This really pissed Brago off. Why should Sherry care if this idiot comes into her house? And since when did he get permission to call her by her first name?

"Hey, little man, have you seen Sherry?" he asked, walking into the room where Brago sat.

"She's not here," Brago said boredly.

"Oh, then let's have a guy's night!" said Tokoya, enthusiastically.

"I'd rather not," replied Brago.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" Vito Tokoya said, picking Brago up.

"No, it won't," said Brago, beginning to think that Tokoya was a child molester of sorts.

"What would the beautiful Miss Belmond, your guardian say?"

"I really don't care what Sherry says," Brago responded, wondering how mad Sherry would be and what she'd do if he beat the hell out of Tokoya. Even if his physical strength wasn't all that great compared to other mamono, he could still easily defeat a normal adult human.

"And what do you say?"

"That you're an idiotic human child molester," Brago said.

Tokoya didn't catch the 'human' part. "A molester? _Moi_? Really, what would make you say that?"

Brago just stared. Tokoya then dropped Brago, and then said, "Sorry. Well, listen, Big Guy, I have something to tell you."

"Don't call me that, idiot," Brago said.

"Hey, stop trying to be a tough guy and listen up! How would you like to have a new Daddy?"

Brago didn't get this, but pondered why Tokoya didn't understand anything he said. He desperately needed that new approach so the man would go away?

"Because I'm in Looo-ooo-ooo-ve with Miss Sherry Belmond! And I'm pretty sure she likes me too! Why else would she have the cooks make me breakfast? Why else would she give me directions to the nearest post office?"

Was he really that stupid…? "Maybe he doesn't understand the words I'm using," thought Brago. He really didn't give a care if this guy loved Sherry, he was just So. Damn. Annoying. Maybe a little kid could get through to him better? Maybe that should be the new approach. He immediately threw that aside, it was humiliating and NO WAY was he acting like a child. Tokoya still rambled on about his dreams for the future.

However, when Tokoya mentioned "lots of brothers and sisters for you," Brago, for some _strange_ reason, was offended, and, though he knew he would hate himself later, said in the cutest voice possible the only thing he could think of…

"You can't marry Sherry because I'm going to!"

Oh, God, what had he done...?

…………….

So, here it is. Brago's gonna act like a little kid. 

The mildew threat still stands. Review.


	4. The Path of No Return

**Chapter 4: The Path of No Return**

Okies, I'm back! So, now Brago's going to act like a little kid, because he's already said the first thing, and really can't back out now! And, I'll be on vacation over Christmas, so no updates. I'm leaving Tuesday. (The 19th, I think.) There's plenty of time to write on the plane, though. I'm going to Italy! And I wrote a brief timeline of the story, thanks to a suggestion by Twilight Memories, who drew this awesome picture! 

(Remove the spaces.) http://www .deviantart. com/deviation /44481502/ 

I knew I had to plan someway, but I suck at organizing my thoughts. Thanks again. But this will probably last around 20 chapters, if all goes as planned.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Konjiki no Gash Bell or the Mushrooms of Time. I don't own the piece of artwork up there, either. Makoto Raiku, Rumiko Takahashi and Twilight Memories, do, respectively. I do, however, own Vito Tokoya, but I am willing to sell him for less than 25 imaginary cents after Chapter 5. A rug, shark bait, and a punching bag are just a few of his many uses! Wow, long disclaimer….

Now for the main attraction!

…………..

There was no turning back now. Brago had done it; he had told Tokoya that he was going to marry Sherry. Why? All because he wanted that stupid human to shut up!

"Ah! So I see! The young man has a juvenile crush on the lovely lady that picked him off the streets!" Tokoya sighed. "But, alas! Ten years separate them! And, I her elder by only seven shall win her heart. I, the Amazing Vito Tokoya!

Maybe this idea wasn't that great. Brago wondered what possessed him to say that line in the first place. He had run down the path of no return. It couldn't get any worse.

Since he had to say something, he opened his mouth and said, acting perfectly, "Well, I'm still going to marry her because she loves me best." It did get worse. Brago was humiliated he said this, just because of Vito Tokoya.

"So you think you can win, eh?" asked Tokoya in his annoying voice.

"Uh-huh," said Brago, still struggling to act the part. He then stuck out his tongue for extra effect. It worked well, but Brago hated it…

Oh, God. What would happen when Sherry found out about this? She was bound to; she wasn't stupid enough to not notice a drastic change in his personality. He could always just tell her his motives, but she'd laugh at him. Brago really hated being laughed at.

"Little Man, you have entered a losing battle!" said Tokoya, opening his stupid mouth. "I, the Amazing Vito Tokoya, the intelligent, charming, handsome, masculine, business man accept your challenge!"

As Tokoya moved his leg to pose, he stepped on a pair of underpants he had carelessly strewn on the floor. They slipped, causing Tokoya to scream like a little girl as he unintentionally did the splits.

So much for his list of virtues, thought Brago.

…………….

Sherry walked through the store. She really should have done this at the mall the other day, but after the battle with Araine and Mhira, she wanted to leave as quickly as possible. The fabrics were durable, but expensive. She'd need them, and she was rich. There were many people of affluent wealth there, as they liked to buy tablecloths and curtains. Sherry noticed a group of women gossiping while flipping through patters for drapes and recognized one of them. The woman was wearing a long golden-yellow dress with pale green designs and had her dark brown hair completely in curls. Her name was Ms. Hard, a young friend of her mother's. She was very kind to Sherry, but they had not met in a while.

Sherry walked over to say hello, but Ms. Hard noticed her first. "Is that you, Sherry?" Ms. Hard said in a kind voice. Sherry often wondered how anyone so sweet could befriend her mother. Ms. Hard smiled.

"I haven't seen you since you were thirteen! You've really grown into such a woman, haven't you?" Ms. Hard liked to talk and gossip, but was never mean spirited. And, talk she did.

"Thank you," said Sherry.

"Well, I heard you got a boyfriend a while back, is it true?" Ms. Hard asked.

Boyfriend? Sherry supposed she was talking about Brago, who was certainly not her boyfriend. "Ah, well, n—"

"Oh, is that little Sherry Belmond?" another woman came over, one which Sherry didn't recognize. "Why, I haven't seen her for years!" She turned to Sherry. "You've really grown a lot! Well, I heard from Mrs. Alcy that you took up with a demon! Or, at least a man that looks like one!"

"Well," said Sherry, "he's more of an acquaintance or a friend."

"Oh, and Sherry?" Ms. Hard spoke up again. "Did you hear about the incident at the mall?" Heard about it? Sherry nodded yes. "One of the women who started the fight, I heard her name was Mhira Stanterem, she went missing from a town in America a little while back, I think it was on the news… This was on the news, too, by the way. Well, she was found dead, all shot up in a warehouse somewhere near her. Whoever murdered her is still out there. Be careful, Sherry. Don't stay out too late; a lot of officers of the law have recently been killed, too. It makes me worry."

Mhira, the only link to who the mushroom mamono was, was now dead. She had been shot, so maybe she had picked a fight with some thugs? She seemed the type to do so. It could have been this 'Galter', but why would a mamono or its bookkeeper use a gun?

"Well, just so you know, honey!" Ms. Hard said, and warned Sherry once again not to stay out late. Sherry told her it was nice to see her again, and left.

Sherry paid for her items and left the store. She went to her car, and got in. The chauffeur started the car up, and they were headed towards the hotel.

Brago was thoroughly disgusted with himself. He had to get rid of this Tokoya guy before Sherry came home… But he was locked in a closet. Vito Tokoya had tied him up and thrown him in a closet.

Brago was sawing through the rope with his sharp, clawed hand. Finally, the rope snapped.

Just as he was removing the ropes, Tokoya's annoying voice was heard. "Hey, Little Man, I'll let you out after the W-E-D-D-I-N-G! That spells wedding!"

Tokoya turned to raid the kitchen, and maybe write a love poem to Sherry, but tripped because _something _had grabbed his pant leg.

That something was a small hand sticking through a newly made hole in the door. That something was Brago's hand.

"Hey, you shouldn't break things," said Tokoya, as the hand let his pant leg go. He heard something sliding across the floor. And, then, this time, next to the door handle, Brago broke another hole in the door and unlocked the door and opened it through it.

He jumped off the chair he had been standing on after removing his arm.

"I can do that too," Tokoya said, thinking the door must be very badly made. After punching the door, he found he had thought wrongly.

"Oh, god…" Tokoya said, rubbing his hand. He then tried with his knee. This was pathetic, even for a human. The door actually was rather flimsy, compared to some others Brago had busted down.

"You really are weak," said Brago, looking for a bag to stuff Tokoya in so he could throw him in a river or something.

"What right do you have to say that about the magnificent Vito Tokoya?" the man said, still rubbing his knee.

"Are you really that stupid?" said Brago, walking off to find the bag elsewhere. However, when Brago had found a bag (originally used for coats) Tokoya had fled to his room locking the mamono out, and Brago figured Sherry'd be pissed if he broke another door.

…………..

Brago threw the last brick onto the pile. Even the first floor was so high up. He figured he could get in through the window, or at least see what Tokoya was doing. Brago could have sworn he heard maniacal laughter.

Maybe Tokoya was writing out a plan of some sort? When he climbed up the bricks to peer through the window, he remembered he couldn't read human writing of any type… but then realized that Tokoya was drawing something.

Brago fell off the bricks when he saw what Tokoya was drawing. Was the maniacal laughter from _that_? What in hell was so funny about 600-pound men in tutus?

Brago vaguely wondered if Tokoya was hiring obese ballet dancer to kill him, but didn't think that the case.

…………..

Brago walked up the stairs, and slowly went into Sherry's room out of boredom. "He realized he was tired. Damned, weak, pathetic child's body…" he mumbled upon noticing this. The bed looked soft, and smelled like Sherry, who had recently spent many nights in it. They really needed to get moving. There were at least a few mamono weaker than him in his current state…

Brago looked over to Sherry's bed stand, where the black book often rested. Sherry had taken it with her. Brago really didn't like the book being out of his sight, or for that matter, his bookkeeper. He needed both to become king. Even as a child, he could guard his book. Without him around, something could happen to it. To _her_.

Was he that tired to worry so much about Sherry? It was normal to worry about one's bookkeeper, he assumed. They were essential to the kingship, even if they were weak…

Brago supposed he was, cursed his condition, and crawled under the covers of the unoccupied bed.

…………..

Tokoya thought of what a peculiar child Brago was.

What being had such blue streaks in his black hair, such markings on his face and his arms? What child had such strength, and such claws? And where were his eyebrows? However, Tokoya thought Brago's eyes were the strangest. The fogginess of them was scary enough, but they were red…

Tokoya knew the child was not human.

Not that he cared, though. He was already dumbly planned his honeymoon with Sherry at a beach resort in Iowa in his stupid head.

…………...

Sherry returned home early that morning. She walked to her room to put what she bought in her room. Her attention was brought to a lump on the bed, which on closer examination was revealed to be Brago.

He had one arm wrapped around the pillow he rest his little head on, laying on his stomach, head titled to face her. He was so cute…

Sherry had to take a picture of this. It was the most precious thing she had ever seen. She quickly and quietly ran to get the camera downstairs, careful not to wake Brago or the man staying there —Gino Toyoka, his name was?— to get a camera. She did just this and snapped a few pictures, praying Brago would never find out.

…………..

Brago awoke slowly. Where was he? He looked around. Sherry's room, apparently. He then remembered he had fallen asleep there. Was Sherry home? Brago's senses had been out of whack ever since he had eaten the mushroom, which was why he didn't sense Araine at the mall. (Brago couldn't smell her either because of all the different scents in the air at the mall.)

Brago jumped out of the bed to the floor. He put his tiny black shoes on and carefully walked down the stairs. He wasn't used to having such short legs.

As he made his slow descent, he reminded himself he was on the path of no return. Even though he was sure Sherry couldn't possibly like Tokoya, he was in a battle now. There was no backing out.

…………...

Sherry was in the kitchen eating pancakes. The chef had made some for Tokoya; it was part of renting the room.

"Hello, lovely!" said Tokoya, sliding out of a doorway, holding a bouquet of tulips that he had messed up the flowerbeds in the process of obtaining. "I, Vito Tokoya am so sorry that I cannot be by your side this morning, but I would be happy to accompany you to lunch!"

Sherry just stared at the strange man, only to see he was leaning toward her, trying to kiss her. Just as she was ready to eject Tokoya from the window, a spatula flew through the air and hit Tokoya in the face.

Needless to say, Brago had thrown the spatula. Sherry could tell he was… jealous? Since when did Brago get jealous…?

"I'm so sorry, Mister, my hand… slipped," said the momono cutely. Since when did Brago do or say anything cutely?

Something must have happened… But why did Brago seem so jealous? Was it because Tokoya was hitting her? Sherry supposes she had fried her brain thinking about Mhira turning up dead.

For now, she could just mess with Brago. She'd find out what was happening then, and maybe have a bit of fun tormenting her mamono partner.

"Sure, I'll go to lunch with you! Is twelve okay?"

"Twelve is absolutely fine!" said Tokoya, stuffing the bouquet in Sherry's orange juice.

Brago couldn't believe it. Did Sherry like the freak?

"I wanna go, too!" he said, sticking to his act, though he despised human restaurants…

Sherry then left the room to hide the camera with the pictures of Brago asleep on it.

"The battle begins at twelve, hey, Big Guy?" asked Tokoya.

Brago only glared.


	5. A Different Kind of Battle

**Chapter 5: A Different Kind of Battle**

Okay, this chapter sucked, I wrote it in the car on the way from Rome to Venice. I took forever to get my hands on a notebook, because I thought I could buy one in the airport. Well, I was wrong. Then I got two, one being a crappy souvenir book from Pompeii, which I wrote this in, the other being an absolutely beautiful book that it was a shame to write in. And, by the way, Italian pizza sucks. Badly. And, if you want to hear something about a fungus called a truffle and some tiny octopuses… Ask me. I'll tell you something.

And if there are any offences against the Great Pagan Gods of Grammar made in Tokoya's dialogue, they're intentional, because he's stupid. He generally likes to use a certain subjective pronoun in place of a certain objective one.

Now, for the main attraction, Zophise in a tutu!  


…

…

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, except for Vito Tokoya, and he's on sale at the end of the chapter.

Okay… Now for the story!

………………

"No, no, madam! My love has already been pledged!"

The waitress stared at Tokoya as if he was insane, but Brago knew he was just incredibly stupid.

"I am very sorry that I could not satisfy your greatly understandable desire for I, Vito Tokoya!" He then posed.

Brago rolled his red eyes as Sherry flipped through the menu. Both Sherry and the waitress noticed Tokoya's grammatical error.

Brago hated human restaurants. Brago hated Tokoya. And, for some strange reason, Brago really hated Tokoya trying to get close to Sherry. He was in a situation he rather disliked, to say the least.

"So, Sherry, what do you find the most alluring in a man?" asked Tokoya, leaning towards her. He did back off a little when Brago threw a knife in a fashion any well-trained ninja would have aimed straight at his head, though.

"Alluring?" Sherry echoed, wondering if she'd ever thought of something like that. Well, she and Koko had talked about it before. Sherry had said she didn't know what she wanted, and Koko had said she wanted someone who was nice and (jokingly here) didn't have a passion for dressing in women's clothing, like the guy in the Lumberjack Song. (Monty Python reference.)

"Yes. What is your favorite song?" asked Tokoya, who didn't let Sherry answer his fist question. He then started rambling about a song Brago had heard once and had never wanted to hear again, called 'ChiChi wo Moge'. He didn't like music much in general, but he absolutely hated that song. It was annoying _and_ perverted. But Sherry seemed to be listening. Did she actually like that song?

"Sir, your wine?" the waitress said, coming up with a bottle of wine Tokoya had ordered.

Here Tokoya opened his stupid mouth again, to Brago's disgust, as always. "Ah, so you bring a gift to direct my attention towards you? I accept, but nothing shall divert my divine attention from Sherry!"

"Sir, this wine, which you are _buying_, costs 900 euros. Enjoy it." The waitress set the bottle down on the table.

"Ah, Sherry, would you like a glass?" asked Tokoya, having a life-and-death struggle with the cork until the waitress helped him.

"I'm sixteen." Sherry said.

"And I am twenty-three! Seven years your elder!" Tokoya laughed. "I'm so mature, it makes me jealous of myself! You should aspire to be like I, six-year-old."

"Fourteen, jackass," muttered Brago under his breath.

Sherry stated the should-have-been obvious. "I'm not old enough to drink."

"Oh." Tokoya paused. "More for me-e-e!" He filled the wine glass to the brim and gulped it down.

"You're classy. Why don't you just drink it straight from the bottle?" asked Brago sarcastically.

Tokoya took this advice when he finished the cup.

"Oh, God," Brago moaned, irritated. Other diners began to stare at Tokoya. For once Brago wasn't calling attention to the situation with his strange looks.

"Kid, what is your problem?" asked Tokoya. "Stop mumbling!"

"Shut up, idiot," said Brago, not wanting to hear what a human thought he should be doing.

"Oh, you shut up," replied Tokoya.

"I'm not listening to you," Brago said. He then growled a little.

Tokoya got mad. "Hey, kid. Listen to your elders!"

Brago just glanced at him, and took a drink from the water the waitress had put on the table.

Tokoya reached across the table and threw pepper right in Brago's eyes.

Though Brago desperately wanted to punch Tokoya in the face, he thought of a plan that would make Sherry, no, all the humans in the stupid restaurant, hate Tokoya.

He burst out crying. Of course Brago was faking it.

"Wh-what m-m-made you do th-that?" He sobbed in between crocodile tears. "Wh-why?"

"Vito!" Sherry said, "How could you? He's just a little kid?" Sherry knew perfectly well that Brago was fake crying, and was having fun.

"The brat deserved it," said Tokoya.

Sherry, struggling to keep a straight face, turned toward him and said, "That's terrible of you, I expected better!"

"M-m-make h-him s-s-say sorry!" cried Brago, enjoying the 'Oh-crap-What-the-heck-should-I-do/say' expression on Tokoya's face in the part of his red eyes that weren't filled with fake tears.

"Say sorry to Brago, Vito," said Sherry.

"Grr… Well, okay. Sorry," replied Tokoya, who didn't sound very sorry. Brago shot a grin at Tokoya, who stared.

The rest of the meal went quietly, and Tokoya paid the bill, but only after the waitress threatened his life.

…………..

The next morning, Brago woke up on a couch in Sherry's room. The owner of said room was sleeping soundly in the bed. Brago slipped out of her room and decided to go for a walk.

While walking past the kitchen he saw none other than Vito Tokoya eating all of the Groovy Tangelo Pancakes, the specialty of the Belmond family chef, Reece.

"Hello, Demon Child." Tokoya took notice of Brago when he looked up from shoveling pancakes into his mouth.

The nickname was better than the ones Tokoya had given him before… And Brago guessed it suited him. "Hello, moron," Brago responded.

"You aren't a very nice child," said Tokoya, taking something out of a bag. "So, I have concluded you are either the kid from The Omen or possessed."

Possessed? Where did this come from?

Tokoya then whipped two things across the room at Brago. Said things turned out to be a heavy Bible and a metal cross. They both bounced off his head and fell harmlessly to the floor. Now why the hell did he do that…?

"Huh? Why didn't the exorcism work?" Tokoya wondered aloud.

"Exorcism? You thought I was possessed?" asked Brago. If Brago wasn't Brago, he would have laughed. Instead he just smirked a bit.

"Yeah, that's what I said, Demon Child," replied Tokoya.

"Well, I'm not possessed, and I don't think you can exorcise someone like that," said Brago. "And I'm not the kid from that one movie."

"Well, what's wrong with you then? First you get in between Sherry and me, and then, I throw a Bible and a metal –metal, mind you– cross at you, they hit your head, and you don't even flinch!"

Brago was wondering when Tokoya would take notice… "Nope. It didn't hurt me one bit," Brago said, adding the cuteness he despised so much to his voice in a small amount.

"I really hate you, kid," said Tokoya. "_Really_ hate you."

"You're not my favorite human, either," said Brago.

"There! You refer to me as 'human'! And your vocabulary is far too wide for a young child! You used sarcasm at the restaurant!"

"You actually took it seriously, though," said Brago.

"Looking back, I see it as it was," answered Tokoya. "Anyways… You are **not** a human six-year-old!"

"Wow, for once you're right," said Brago.

"So, what are you?" asked Tokoya. "And how old are you?"

"Well, I'm a type of demon called a mamono, and I'm actually fourteen," replied Brago. Well, his body was six, but whatever, he figured. He had been in existence for fourteen years.

"I must tell Sherry of your true nature!" said Tokoya. "Due to the information I shall give her, she shall expel your evil from her marvelous household!"

"Oh, she knows," Brago said, looking at his colored nails.

"You're a freak!" shouted Tokoya, noticing how sharp the nails were.

"I have the same opinion of you, now get out of the house," said Brago, who was getting sick and tired of the conversation. He then punched the wall, cracking it. He really didn't care how beat up the house got, as long as it didn't collapse and kill Sherry.

Tokoya, who did not want this to happen to any part of him, nodded and ran to his room to pack up, left the money due for renting the room on the desk in it, and left.

Finally, thought Brago.

Sherry came down stairs in a housecoat, yawning. "Morning, Brago. Where's Tokoya?"

"Oh, he left," responded the mamono.

"You drove him out, didn't you?" Sherry said, pouring water for tea that had been heated by servants.

"Yeah. So are you going to yell at me? I know you like him and all," said Brago.

Sherry smiled. "Oh, no. I was just messing with you! You're really cute, you know!" Sherry took her tea and left.

Brago just stared. She… had been messing… with him?

…………..

Review or you'll never eat anything but truffles ever again!

Almost-pure stupidity is in store for next chapter! Bye!


	6. Back on the Road Kinda

**Chapter 6: Back on the Road**

I'm finally typing this out! Yay! I had a whim to throw the Burger King guy with a chainsaw in… as this chapter already mentions McDonald's workers, but I decided not to. It's going to make everyone think I'm a psychopath, as several camp officials already do. Anyways, I've been seeing an increase in the number of CannonxOC stories around here… Ugh… I _really_ don't like CannonxMary-Su— I mean OC. I would much rather read Walt Whitman's poetry. (I hate it.) And I realize this chapter is stupid…

**Anyways, I mean no offence to underpaid fast food workers over thirty. Or, for that manner, McDonald's. The idea for that part of this chapter came from a supposedly true story my brother told me about _one_ stupid employee. One. So no one should feel offended. If you do, you may throw your shoes at me.**

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Not Konjiki no Gash Bell, not McDonald's, not Poptarts, not even the Mushrooms of Time. I do own the Child Abductor, who is the most awesome OC ever (Kidding, kidding…), though.

And I am using a line in this was found in one of Twilight Memories's amazing pieces of artwork, which was inspired by this story! This line was thought up by Leiko Mika!

So, now we have that out of the way, story time!  


….

Brago couldn't believe it. Sherry had been messing with him? "I can't believe how damn stupid you are!" Brago yelled, storming out of the room, and out of the house.

She could have just left that idiot Tokoya alone with the servants, and gone out training with him. He had to get stronger, and counter the effects of that damned mushroom. Though quite a few demons were the age he was now, many others were older, and fighting against them would not be easy.

Not only was he currently weak, Brago figured, but he had to fend for the even weaker Sherry. He was low on physical strength, and wouldn't be of much assistance if she ran into a problem during battle.

If Sherry collapsed or got too tired to walk, Brago couldn't carry her on his shoulders due to his small size. He didn't like his predicament one bit. After destroying small trees and such to cool down a bit, Brago returned to Sherry's mansion.

Still a little angry at Sherry for screwing around with the Tokoya situation, Brago looked up at the ceiling and mumbled a few impolite things.

"Hey, watch out for the—" This voice of warning came too late, and Brago ran into a vase. Luckily, the owner of the voice, Sherry, was able to catch the vase before it met its tragic end on the floor.

After checking to see if the impact had caused any damage to the urn, Sherry spoke up. "Something's on your mind," she said. "You ran into this thing, and didn't even notice I was in the room. What's the matter?" Sherry didn't expect an answer from Brago, and knew most of his problem, anyways.

She was a little surprised when Brago said, "I'm a six-year-old." He paused and continued, "Why am I a six-year-old? I was a six-year-old once before and didn't like it."

Sherry had to smile upon hearing this. Really, did Brago like anything?

"And then, you wasted quite a bit of valuable time playing around with that Tokoya moron," said Brago, putting his hands into the pockets of his black overalls and looking up at Sherry.

"Oh, it was worth the time," Sherry responded.

"Huh? How in hell was _that_ worthwhile?"

"Oh, well, the expression on your face when I told you that I was just messing around with you was hilarious," said Sherry. And, she added to herself, he actually seemed jealous.

"What expression?" asked Brago, his pale face turning a just slightly red with anger and annoyance.

"Oh, I wish I have had a camera on me," Sherry said, laughing. "You really can be so cute."

"I'm not cute!" he yelled, stomping out of the room, once again mumbling furiously.

…………..

Sherry looked out the window of her limousine. Brago was standing on the seat doing the same.

They were once again hunting mamono. Though Brago couldn't rightly sense mamono, he could still pick up their scents if they were nearby. It wouldn't work if there where too many people around, though. Especially if many were wearing perfume.

Sherry's stomach growled. It was long past time for lunch, and she hadn't eaten. However, something else was on her mind. "I forgot the first-aid kit!" she suddenly shouted, and Brago fell off his seat.

"Miss Sherry," said the driver, who was going to take the place of Jii, who was in England visiting his grandchildren, on this journey. "There's a strip mall just ahead. Maybe one of the stores would carry a first aid kit?" he suggested.

"Oh, that'd work," said Sherry. Luckily for her rumbling stomach, there was a McDonald's just outside the strip mall. "Maybe we could stop there after we pick up the bandages?"

"That'd take too long," said Brago. "The other human should buy the food while you're buying the bandages."

"Why don't you buy our food?" asked Sherry. She pulled out a wallet in which she kept her credit card and small change, and gave Brago a five Euro bill to buy four hamburgers (two for her, two for the driver), and explained exactly what to do, and how he should get one Euro back. Being incredibly bored, Brago agreed to do just this, though he really didn't get what was up with money.

Brago took the cash and headed off into the McDonalds, and Sherry went into one of the stores in the strip mall, both of which were slowly but surely taking over the world.

Before Brago could reach the Mickey D's, a man in a dark coat and hat tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

"What?" Brago asked, as he turned to face the man, whose face was concealed by the upturned collar of the coat.

"Hello, child," started the man in a strangely high voice, "I seem to have lost my cat. Would you care to help me find it?"

"I really could care less about your cat," said Brago, walking off.

"Damn," said the man in his high voice, walking off to find other children to prey upon.

Brago walked into the fast food restaurant, and headed to the counter to order Sherry's food. Standing on his toes, he recited what Sherry had told him to say.

"Four hamburgers."

He really had no idea how Sherry and the other humans could eat such crap; McDonalds not only cooked the food, but fried it to a point that it was absolutely disgusting.

"Can I have the cash?" asked the thirty-four-year-old financial disaster who lived in a trailer his mother bought him, and had perfectly capable of finishing high school, but was to lazy do so.

Brago reached above his head to place the money on the counter.

"Thanks for the tip," the underpaid fast food worker said, turning to prepare the food that should have already been prepared.

"I'm not giving you a tip," said Brago. "Give me back the change."

The man mumbled a few things that one should not say around a small child and began to fry the burger in an atrocious amount of grease.

"You know what? Give me back the money. All of it. You're probably going to spit in the food Sherry is going to eat," said Brago.

The guy behind the counter showed Brago the magical finger and stuffed the bill into his pocket.

"Sorry, kid. No refunds," he said, lighting a cigarette.

This pissed Brago off. "Don't call me kid. Listen human…"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?"

"No, you didn't, so quiet!" said Brago.

The next moment, searing grease was flying through the air at Brago, which he easily dodged. What had it been lately with humans and throwing things at him?

"What the hell was that for?" asked Brago, clearly angered at the man who had stolen five euros from him.

"You're a little freak. Now what're you going to do, tell your mommy on me?"

Any human would have sued, but Brago didn't fit into the 'human' category.

"No, I'm going to take Sherry's money back from you," Brago said. Sherry had a lot more money, but he had seen humans kill over the stuff on TV, and figured that Sherry wanted her money back.

"And how are you going to do that, kid?"

Apparently, being small earned one a lot of disrespect. Brago hated his situation more every minute.

"Hey! I'm waiting! Come… AUGH!"

Brago had already managed to jump over the counter and punch the fast-food worker in the pit of the stomach, and had took the ten euros and left.

…………….

"You didn't get our food?" asked Sherry.

"Well, the guy behind the counter was retarded," Brago replied.

"I figured you'd run into a problem,'" said Sherry, who was looking at different bandages and fist aid kits. "Go ask Dan (this was the driver's name) to get some Poptarts or something out of that vending machine outside that place at the other end of the mall."

Brago left the store and headed out to the car.

"Yeah, this stuff screws with my senses, too, but no mamono will be able to sense or smell us." Sherry did a full circle around upon hearing this. '"Not even him."

Sherry jumped behind a rack so the speaker couldn't see her listening in. Peering around the corner of it, Sherry could see this speaker, who was holding a vial of something.

She was a young girl, maybe seven or eight. The girl wore a strange red hat that resembled the cap of a mushroom, and a cloak that was spotted in the same fashion. It went down to her elbows, concealing most of her white shirt. The sleeves had to be short or non-existent, because what showed of her arms was bare. Her waist had a sky blue sash wrapped around it. Matching sashes tied off her baggy pants at the bottom. A pin of the same color, in the shape of a mushroom held her spotted red clock together in the front at her neck.

The girl's hair was a blonde color, but was not like Sherry's. It was pale and had a slight green tint to it. Her eyes were light green. From the bottom of each of her eyes, a line marked her face, bending outwards toward the edge of her face halfway down her cheek. She had to be a mamono. Maybe she was the mushroom mamono mentioned by Araine…?

A young Japanese woman, maybe a year or two younger than Sherry nodded at the mamono, smiling. There was nothing unusual about the woman, her hair was wavy and a deep brown color, and her eyes were a green far darker than that of her partner's. Her clothes were inexpensive, just a green-blue sweater and jeans.

"Anyway, that jerk'll never get us!" Sherry saw the woman broaden her smile as the mamono talked. "Maybe we should get some bandages." The woman nodded, still not speaking.

The human of the group suddenly jumped and searched her person and bag. She looked her partner in the eye as she fumbled through the bag with one hand, still not uttering a word. Her motions were greatly exaggerated, like a mime's. Why?

"Something's missing? Not the book!" The woman shook her head in response to this. "Good," said the mamono, sighing. "How about you do me a favor and don't worry me like that?" The mamono girl turned her back to the human. The woman put her hand to the back of her head and scratched it.

Sherry was beginning to think the woman was mute, but that wouldn't make for a good bookkeeper, would it?

"You only dropped the brochure? I already can read the entire thing, so it doesn't matter now!" the girl said irritably. Her partner glanced at her, and the girl then smiled. "I can't wait to see the Sears Tower!"

Sears Tower? Wasn't that in the American city of Chicago?

The duo passed Sherry, who received nothing more than a passing glance from the silent woman as they moved toward the register.

"Hey, Amaya! Buy me this," said the mamono, not even uttering anything close to 'please', holding up a magazine. "I think I'll be able to understand most of the writing."

The woman, now known to be named Amaya, took the magazine and paid for it, along with her other things. She walked out the door, the mamono, slowly sounding out the word 'celebrity'.

Sherry gathered up her own bandages and first aid kit after a few moments, and headed out after paying. On the sidewalk, just outside the door of the shop, Sherry noticed a little pamphlet that read 'Chicago'. It was probably the brochure the mamono mentioned…

"Miss Sherry?" Dan the driver tapped her on the shoulder. "We have the Poptarts."

"You look like you've seen a ghost or something," said Brago.

"Or a demon," replied Sherry. "Or a demon headed to Chicago."

…………..

Okay, I'm done with Chapter Six! Finally. I'm sorry that I didn't get this up faster. My parents have limited my time on the computer to two hours a weekday. I'll try typing up some of seven tomorrow.

Thank you for reading! Now review or you will instantly develop barophobia for no reason whatsoever!


	7. Chicago Bound!

**Chapter 7: Chicago Bound!**

I am grounded from the computer due to my stupid grades. (My parents are out for dinner for awhile, so I figured I should type this up… they'll never find out… Or then again… Ah, I'll risk it.) But is a C+ (lowest grade) really all that bad? Oh, wait… it is. I hate school… And chores… Okay… Sorry 'bout that. 

Anyways… I hope my parents go to the Superbowl, as they say I'm actually aloud to use the computer while they're gone if they did.

Oh… And… I just have to suggest my friend Marina Yggdrasill's Starbucks thingeh!

Disclaimer: I do not own Konjiki no Gash Bell. Or the Mushrooms of Time, or, for that matter, anything else I may mention. I think most of Chicago is public property, though… Whatever… Oh, But do I own the 'Mushroom Mamono', and her bookkeeper Amaya.

Now, let's get this sad excuse for fanfiction started!

…………..

"A mamono? You've got to be kidding," Brago looked at Sherry with disbelief as he took one of the Poptarts from Dan the Driver.

"Why would I be kidding?" asked Sherry, who was amazed that Brago was trying any sort of 'human food' let alone a sugar-filled pastry.

"It's not even worth following it even if what you did see was a mamono," he replied, putting his hands into the pockets of his black overalls. "And if it was, how come I can't smell it?"

"She had a vial of something, and said that'd mess up any mamono's senses," said Sherry. "And besides…"

"Besides," mimicked Brago, turning around, "If the demon's using something like that, it's bound to be weak. It'll just disappear all on its own."

"_Besides_, I think she might have been the mushroom mamono Araine mentioned. She could probably help us. That'd be your chance to turn back," said Sherry. "If, that is," she added, "she'll help us."

"We'll burn her book if she won't, or for that matter, can't," said Brago. Out of him, his was as good as saying, "Get on the plane now, we're going." He then took a bite of the Poptart. He looked down at the pastry before beginning to eat the rest.

Sherry smiled down at Brago. "Do you like it?"

"No," her partner said flatly. He finished the Poptart and had Dan give him another.

Sherry rolled her eyes, still smiling.

…………..

"So, this is Chicago, huh?" The small girl pressed her nose against the plane window. "Amaya! Amaya! Where is it? Where's the Sears Tower?" she insisted, quickly turning towards her companion, a dark-haired Japanese girl.

Amaya opened up a notebook to a clean sheet of paper. "_Oh, you'll know it when you see it!_" she wrote.

"Oh… Well…These stupid flights freak me out," said the mamono girl, adjusting her strange mushroom-hat. "All the way across the whole Atlantic Ocean and farther… We could have crashed, and that would have killed us for sure…"

A smile spread across the woman's face as she wrote, "_I'm still glad about making good time at the airport back in France. If we would have been any later, we would have had to wait four hours to catch the next flight_."

"Oh, I'd of hated that!" the mamono said rather loudly, drawing attention to the pair.

Amaya ignored this attention as she stuffed the notebook she had been writing into a bag with a pale red book with strange markings on it after writing, "_Come on, Hyphae. It's time to get off_."

"Finally," muttered the mamono.

…………..

Brago hated plane rides. They were long, boring, and in most cases, the stewardesses were annoying. This plane ride, which he had been on for nearly Not only was the plane ride not to his liking, but he and Sherry had to wait almost four hours at the airport before getting on.

Sherry was sleeping very peacefully in the seat next to Brago. He figured now was the only time when the human weakness of sleep would be useful. Not that he didn't need to sleep in this condition which he loathed… He just wasn't tired.

The plane started to hit some turbulence, and when the plane jolted in an especially violent way…

"No, Zophise! That nail polish belongs to Brago!" yelled Sherry, who woke with a start.

Brago turned to look at Sherry. "Nail polish?"

"Oh, it was only a really weird dream," said Sherry. She yawned at stretched her arms over her head.

"It's not nail polish," Brago said, looking at his colored nails. "They're just like this."

"Your toes are, too, right?" asked Sherry, who was a little just-woke-up-stupid.

"What do you think?" asked Brago, taking off his small black shoe and grey sock to show Sherry his tiny toenails.

"You don't have any eyebrows, either, you know," said Sherry, who had never brought his appearance up before and figured now was the time to do so.

"So?" Brago asked, wondering what purpose those things called 'eyebrows' actually had.

"You know… you're really weird!" Sherry said, smiling.

"Why so happy?" Brago asked, putting his shoe back on. He didn't know weird was a good thing…

"Nothing. It's just that you're cute, even if you are weird."

Brago moaned. That _again_?

"Anyways, I never really thought of what you looked like when you were little," said Sherry. "And now you _are_ little!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Brago asked. He was beginning to worry about his partner's sanity.

"Nothing, nothing at all," replied Sherry, leaning back in her seat.

A bell rang, and a voice spoke over the intercom.

**"We will be landing in Chicago soon, please buckle your seatbelts. Thank you for flying United." **

"Looks like we're here," said Sherry.

"Tomorrow we start hunting for the mamono," Brago said.

…………..

What a crappy chapter ending. Meh, sorry.

Review! Or… or… AUGH!

I don't have a threat this time, so all reviewers get imaginary muffins.


	8. Marco Polo

**Chapter 8: Marco Polo**

Happy _Belated_ Valentine's Day! …. And now I have nothing to say except for the stupid disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I don't own Konjiki no Gash Bell, the Mushrooms of Time, or, for that matter, anything else I may bring up in this sad, sad excuse for fanfiction, except for my OCs.

Now, onto the actual story!

…………..

It was eight in the morning. Brago would have liked the day to have started earlier, but Sherry had refused to wake up until 7:45. This had put the demon in a bad mood, and he was now complaining about Sherry's constant need for sleep.

"After you slept all that time on the plane, you still slept that long…"

"Oh, quiet," Sherry said. "If you would have just told me the time, I would have gotten out of bed earlier."

"I can't understand those stupid symbols on that thing you humans call a 'clock'," replied Brago.

"You should learn, and besides, you've been sleeping lately, too," said Sherry. "I found some blankets around the house, and the servants didn't say they put them there…" She didn't mention that she had taken pictures of him while he was asleep in her bed.

"At least I don't have to sleep every five minutes…" he mumbled.

The duo stepped out of the lobby onto the street.

"Where to now?" Sherry asked. "You _were_ trying to do something to find them, right?"

Her partner glared up at her. Brago had been focusing on it all night, attempting to sense something… He honestly didn't expect it to be so hard to adjust to his new age. The only thing he could find was…

"That way." Brago pointed somewhere behind and to the left of him, which was to the east. "They're not too far."

"That's all? You have nothing else?"

"Shut up. Let's just go."

Sherry began walking to the corner of the block so she could get at an angle where she could walk 'that way'.

They had gotten to the end of the block when Brago spoke up.

"They disappeared."

After a few seconds, the team decided to go 'that way' and try and find them from there. They turned the corner to walk to the other end. Sherry constantly had to pause as she walked to allow Brago, who now had a much shorter stride than her, to catch up.

The woman figured this would cause a problem on the street. A collision with a car would probably hurt the car more than Brago, but would cause a huge fiasco, something they did not have time for.

An idea entered Sherry's mind. She knew Brago wouldn't like it much, but it was the only thing she could think of.

When she reached the steet, Sherry turned to he small partner, who was a few steps behind her.

"Hey, Brago…"

…………..

Meanwhile, 'That way'…

"Breakfast, Breakfast," sang the strange blonde girl, "Two teams are chasing us, and we're gonna have breakfast! Our cloaking potion's all ran out, and we're gonna have breakfast!"

She bounced around the elevator, obnoxiously repeating her song until her cheek was met by a rather fast-moving notebook reading, "_SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!!_" The words were in capital letters and followed by five exclamation marks.

Her green eyes turned towards the one who had hit her, a dark-haired Japanese girl of fourteen.

"Amaya! Why'd you hit me?" the mamono squealed, touching her hand to her cheek where the impact had been made.

Amaya wrote in her notebook. "_Why do you think, idiot?_"

"Dunno, because you felt like it?" replied the demon named Hyphae, sticking out her tongue. She moved the hand that had been on her cheek to adjust her odd mushroom-like hat. She then laughed.

"_Could you at least give me some quiet in the morning?" _Amaya wrote, irritated at her partner's antics.

"Hey, I'm an eight-year-old kid! I wanna have fun, unlike you grown-ups!" said Hyphae.

The Japanese teen crossed her arms. Grown-ups? Really, fourteen wasn't grown-up yet, was it?

The elevator door opened and the mushroom team stepped out into the lobby. They walked over towards the hotel restaurant.

"Breakfast buffet!" Hyphae ran towards the buffet like a madwoman and nearly choked when Amaya grabbed the back of her short red cloak to prevent her from wreaking havoc.

When Hyphae had been let go, Amaya wrote, "_Do me a favor and act like a civilized person, okay? I'll get you some ice-cream or something later."_

The prospect of ice-cream thrilled Hyphae, so she agreed to behave.

Twenty-three plates of Hyphae's later, the team had left the hotel.

Once they were outside, Hyphae said, "Amaya, do you think we can see the Apples?"

"_Who are the Apples?"_

"That sports team you told me about. I know it's some type of fruit… Maybe Pears? Yeah, that's it! The Pears!" Amaya smiled at Hyphae's mistake.

"_That's the Bears, Hyphae. Like the animal. And no, I don't have tickets. Besides, it's not football season." _ Amaya slipped her notebook into her bag. The reference to football reminded her of her grandfather.

Amaya's grandfather, who had raised her, was a big fan of football. She hadn't seen him in a while now; he had left Amaya at her aunt's tailor's shop for a year voyage before the demon battle had started. He traveled a lot. He'd definitely been in America before. Amaya wondered if his journeys had every taken him to Chicago.

He would be coming back to Japan soon, and Amaya would be going back to live with him again. With her little demon friend of course. But they couldn't forget why they were actually traveling, oh, no…

Hyphae's voice tore Amaya away from her thoughts.

"I mush have been mistaken because your handwriting sucks." This earned the demon a hard whack with the bag.

……………

Brago didn't like the way the day was unfolding. The demon had began to move, and Brago could only sense her presence for a few moments before it disappeared again. Each time it got further and further away…. Damn it.

Sherry had compared it to a human game called 'Marco Polo' where one human closed his eyes and blindly called 'Marco' and searched for another, who had to call 'Polo'. It sounded like a stupid game, but Brago had to agree his situation was like that of the one with their eyes closed.

Brago didn't mind this as much as he minded another of his problems, once again caused by his age.

Earlier he had been having trouble keeping up with Sherry.

Now Brago was holding her hand, allowing her to almost drag him along across the streets. It was humiliating. He knew it was for the sake of speed, but it was almost driving him crazy.

At first he had pretty much refused to hold Sherry's hand, but she insisted… How he hated it.

Damn… Why did the mushroom mamono have to be so hard to find?

…………….

More on Brago's suffering in later chapters. Review or Zophise will come to you in your dreams!


	9. Over IceCream

**Chapter 9: Over Ice-Cream**

The A/N is at the end today!

Now for everyone's favorite part of **_THE DISCLAIMER_**!

Disclaimer: I don't, never have, and never will own Konjiki no Gash Bell, the Mushrooms of Time, or anything in this sad, pathetic excuse for a **fan**fiction. Except for my OCs. I own them. Yep. But seriously, if I did own Gash Bell, why would I write fanfiction? Why would anyone if they did own it? Do you see Makoto Raiku writing fanfiction? NO!!!! Okay, sorry. 

Done with that. Now, leave. It's over.

…

Okay, you caught me. 

Now, for the main attraction!

…………..

Sherry had been toting her complaining partner by the hand throughout Chicago, towards the direction from which Brago had felt the demon. She doubted a taxi cab would take them around to an indefinite location, henceforth had not tried to call one.

"Go faster, or let go of my hand," said Brago, after the at least fiftieth block (or at least that's what it felt like to Sherry) the team had walked.

"You walk slower than I do," Sherry responded.

Sherry noticed that passersby were looking at her and Brago. They always attracted attention, especially Brago. (The pink dress Sherry wore sometimes got stares, but Brago was far stranger.) At least he wasn't wearing the ball-of-fluff outfit he always wore. What type of fur was that, anyways?

Not many six-year-olds wore colorless, predominately black outfits. Or, for that matter, had strange markings on their face and forearms. Brago's bad mood was almost unheard of among small children. Many people told him to cheer up, ask him or Sherry what was wrong, or blame Sherry for 'bad parenting'.

Sherry vaguely wondered how many people would stare if she walked down the street holding hands with 14-year-old Brago, and what it would be like. This also brought up questions like, "How in hell would he agree to that?"

Upon thinking this, Sherry looked down at her partner, who noticed she was staring. "What?"

"Oh, nothing."

It was a funny thought, but it passed.

…………..

"_One cone,_" the girl wrote. She then went back to underline the 'one' so her partner would get it through her head.

"B-but Amaya! I was good all breakfast! And at the Sears Tower! Please?" The girl adjusted the mushroom-shaped pin on her cloak.

"_Do you think I have an infinite supply of money?_"

"Does a small child from another world care about how much money you have?" asked Hyphae, crossing her arms.

"_You get one." _The notebook read. She wondered if all mamono had appetites like Hyphae. If so, Amaya pitied bookkeepers who were overly kind to children.

Hyphae burst into the parlor, smiling broadly. She peered at the flavors behind the glass.

"Chocolate," said the demon, not bothering to look away from the food. Hyphae loved ice-cream, but rarely got anything other than chocolate. Amaya had taken her out for ice-cream many times, and made this observation.

The Japanese teenager looked over the flavors for something weird. This was a normal routine, as Amaya always ordered the strangest flavor available. It was her own little way of being adventurous, something the girl felt she needed to do sometime. Today that flavor was lavender-blueberry.

She scribbled down her order in her notebook and showed the boy behind the counter. They then pointed to what cones they wanted and such, and headed over to a table after they got their ice-cream.

"_There are two teams chasing us, right?_" Amaya wrote with her free hand, the notebook resting on the table with Hyphae's hat.

She turned the notebook so the demon could read it.

"Yeah," said Hyphae. "Gatler and some other guys. I figure we can take out the other guys, but up against Gatler, we're fried!"

Amaya licked her ice-cream cone. She'd heard Hyphae's stories about exactly why Gatler hated her and was after her, and Amaya had listened. Really, Hyphae had really screwed up, picking a fight with a guy like _that_.

"_So, what do we do? You said the other team's really close, right? Do you have any idea where Gatler is?"_

"Yeah, they're close. And remember, no one can tell where Gatler is. That's the way he is, you remember?"

Amaya had heard a million times. So she nodded, taking another lick out of her cone.

"Maybe we should just give our book to the other team. I mean, they just want to win, if they're like all those other teams we've seen. Gatler… he wants to kill me, and he'll probably kill you too, because he's psychotic like that… And I only have six spells... They're really weak, too… He probably has at least eight by now… And his partner is probably some really strong body-builder guy, not a fourteen-year-old klutz…" Amaya ignored this one. "And I'm going to die…"

The little girl just rambled on for a while, finishing her cone as she did so.

"_You aren't seriously thinking that?_" wrote Amaya. "_I thought you said you were going to beat the heck out of Gatler personally_."

"Of course I will!" Hyphae figured that she was really out-of it today, and decided to try and get more food out of her partner. "Uhm… My sugar is running low! Buy me another cone, Amaya!"

The wrath of the notebook was truly terrible.

………..

"Dammit," growled Brago. He knew the mushroom mamono was near, nut now that they had gotten this close, he could not find anything. Whatsoever.

Sherry turned to the shop across the street. Ice-cream. It had been a while since she last had any, and she was sort of hungry, but not in the mood for a long, sit-down lunch. (And Brago had told her the McDonald's story during their airport lay-over, so she felt that she wouldn't be in the mood for fast-food any time soon.)

"Brago, have you ever had ice-cream before?"

Sherry walked into the shop without waiting for Brago's answer, which she knew was no.

As soon as Brago was inside the parlor, he tore his hand away from Sherry. They were off the street, it wasn't needed any more.

Sherry looked at the selection of ice-cream. There were a lot of flavors, some incredibly obscure, such as 'Potion #22', which was actually nothing more than a mixture of berry ice-creams. Then there were flavors that were just strange, as there was something with lavender in it offered… Sherry chose vanilla.

As she turned and head to the table where Brago had situated himself, she could have sworn she saw and heard a familiar blonde girl in a spotted red cape say, "The other team. They're here. Should we try and leave?"

Brago was glaring over at who Sherry knew to be the mushroom mamono.

The dark-haired teenager looked at the demon. Their green eyes met.

"Stay? So we're gonna fight in the ice-cream parlor?" asked the demon.

The human stood up and wrote something as she walked over to Brago, not knowing who his bookkeeper was. She showed him the notebook.

"I can't read," he said. Admitting this to a human he didn't know embarrassed the heck out of Brago, Sherry could tell that by looking at his face.

Sherry walked over to the girl, and tapped her shoulder.

"I'm his bookkeeper."

The dark-haired teenager smiled weakly and showed Sherry her notebook.

"_I know I may seem like I am trying to get away, but I would not like to battle in the city. I am sure we can find a place outside of town better suited to what we are going to do_."

"We are not here to fight," I told the girl. "We are here to ask a favor of you."

Here the eight-year-old pushed her way into the conversation. Upon hearing the last bit, the girl had a sort of epiphany.

"Favors don't come cheap, you know."

………..

**A/N:**

You don't have to read this. I typed it up… because of the same reason someone made Patie's name Penny in the English dub… I felt like it. I would, however, like you to review.

Today, I bring you all the topic of names. Particularly Hyphae's name! You know, the name was what actually seriously started this story! When I got the idea for this story it was no more than just a passing whim, something that would never be completed, just like everything else I'd ever tried to write. (All the ideas that died in that notebook...) Then, while actually PAYING ATTENTION in Science, I heard that word. Hypha. (Plural Hyphae.)

They're like these little tendrils mushrooms and other funguses/fungi/however you pluralize fungus are made of. So I stopped paying attention and started drawing. And so Hyphae was created. 

And the story (And like seven spells) came from that Science class, I've modified the drawing a lot… But whatever. If you're still reading this (Boring day?) and wondering where Amaya's name came from, I heard it somewhere before, and was using it as a temporary name because I didn't have anything better at the time. And then, after a while, the name just became hers, you know?

And I'm sorry, but I think this chapter really SUCKED. I apologize to the readers. And there is such thing as lavender-blueberry ice-cream. It's actually pretty good.

Thanks for reading!


	10. The Melancholy of a Lesser Hamster

**Chapter 10: The Melancholy of a Lesser Hamster**

The chapter title today is a song by The Pillows! They're my favorite band! They rule my Ipod.

Now, for the wonderfully wonderful disclaimer that everyone just loves putting on every single last chapter of their story!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own ANYTHING/anyone here except for my OCs. Not Konjiki no Gash Bell, not the Mushrooms of Time, not The Pillows or any of their music.

…………..

"Favors don't come cheap, you know," said Hyphae, who had stepped between Amaya and this new blonde woman, who was apparently a bookkeeper or something. The mushroom mamono realized she was forgetting something.

"What do you guys want, anyways?" the demon asked in a far less serious tone.

Amaya rolled up her notebook and delivered a blow to remember to Hyphae's head. The mushroom-shaped hat that normally protected it from this sort of beating lay uselessly over on the table where the team had been previously.

"_I'm sorry about Hyphae_," Amaya wrote to the other bookkeeper on the newly unrolled notebook. "_What favor would you like to ask?"_

Well, this would be to the point, thought Sherry. "Do you two have a spell that can make mushrooms grow?"

"Nope," said Hyphae, who was still rubbing her head from Amaya's notebook attack. "Sorry, we don't have a spell to make mushrooms grow.

Sherry couldn't believe it. They had come to Chicago for absolutely nothing? Upon hearing Hyphae, Brago's eyes widened, and his jaw almost dropped. Hyphae couldn't make the mushrooms grow. Dammit, was there any cure for his problem?

"I can do that without a spell," Hyphae said, "I just wanted to mess with you. The kid looked like he'd make a funny face when he got freaked out. He does." The mushroom mamono giggled.

Brago's eyes narrowed. He already disliked the mushroom mamono. In fact, he was doing everything he could to stop himself from hitting her. Hard.

"Will you do us the favor, then?" asked Sherry. Amaya nodded, but was interrupted by her demon partner.

"I told you, I'll grow your mushrooms for whatever reason, but it's not free! So, if I grow you your mushrooms, you'll help us with Gatler! And we want the payment up front, you know" the girl said.

Amaya nearly jumped. She quickly wrote in almost illegible handwriting, "_They don't have to help us with that! You said it yourself that Gatler was a maniac who'd kill anyone against him!_"

"Aha! Exactly why we need allies!" said Hyphae.

Amaya didn't understand the way Hyphae thought, and didn't really want to.

"So, what're your names?" Hyphae asked, turning to Brago and Sherry. "I'm Hyphae of the Mushrooms. And that's no one important," she said, pointing at Amaya.

"_Amaya Ichigatsu_." She dropped the pen and offered Sherry her hand to shake.

"My name is Sherry Belmond," she introduced herself, shaking Amaya's hand.

"And _its_ name is?" Hyphae asked, pointing at Brago, who did not appreciate being called an 'it'.

Brago didn't want to tell his name to the psycho-mushroom-girl. She was loud and annoying. But Sherry did that for him. "His name is Brago."

"Brago? Mm, I think I know you. Remember that snowball about two years ago? And you never found the person that threw it? It was me! But I remember you being taller!" Hyphae said, rather loudly, patting Brago on the head.

"Why the hell did you throw the damn snowball?" Brago asked. He remembered the snowball well, as the aim had been incredibly accurate.

"Oh, it had nothing to do with you personally; it was more of a matter of you walking by and me being bored." Hyphae smiled, and Brago got mad. So the two mamono got into a fist-fight on the floor of the ice-cream parlor.

Sherry watched the children fight as she ate her ice-cream cone. She felt a tapping on her shoulder. It was Amaya.

"_Excuse me, Sherry, if I may call you that, why do you need mushrooms grown?_" Amaya had written in her notebook.

"Well, apparently, there is a type of mushroom called the Mushrooms of Time. If you eat a six-centimeter one, six years old. Ten centimeters, ten years old. We got into an I-dare-you-to-eat-it fight, without knowing what it was. He ate it. It so happens that the forest's mushrooms won't grow for another ten months."

"_Time out_," Amaya quickly scribbled down. She then proceeded to write, "_How did you find out about us? And I get your point about why you need the mushrooms._"

"We burnt the book of a mamono, and she mentioned Gatler being after you."

"Was it his ditzy little girlfriend Araine?" asked Hyphae from her scrap with Brago on the floor.

Araine hadn't come off as ditzy to Sherry, but she said, "Yes, her name was Araine."

"She's totally obsessed with Gatler, and will do anything he says," Hyphae sighed, though she was still in the fight. "It's almost annoying."

"I could have beaten Araine; we've been in fights in the Makai before, but Gatler… He's in a league of his own!"

"What the hell did you do to piss him off?" asked Brago.

"It wasn't me to start with," said Hyphae, looking down at the floor. "I guess I should tell you my story, right?"

"Since you're sucking us into fighting along side you, sure," replied Brago, almost under his breath.

"Well, you've heard about clan wars, right? Two families of mamono get into a fight and pretty much try to hide it from the king and others so no one butts in? Rumors do get around, though…" Hyphae paused to take a breath. "Our families are always fighting because of…" Hyphae pointed to the pale-blue mushroom shaped pin holding her cloak together at the neck. "…This."

"Your families fight because of a pin?" asked Sherry, disbelief in her voice.

"It's not just a pin. The blue stone multiplies power by tens in the Makai and the Makai only," Hyphae explained.

"Then why the hell are you bringing it to Ningenkai?" Brago wondered aloud,

"Because I was entrusted with it. My great-great grandmother's the head of the clan. I'm the prodigy," explained Hyphae. "Anyhow, Gatler's family had most of the underground power back in the Makai. When the Mushroom clan, _my_ family, created the gem, they were afraid we'd take that power from them."

Sherry and Brago both opened their mouths to speak, but Hyphae cut them off, answering their question.

"The spell we were all born knowing is incredibly weak. I mean, it's not that bad, but it's not going to bust a hole in any big shields, you know? Because of this, we were constantly getting robbed. And I don't mean every couple of weeks. I mean day in, day out. The gem was made for protection, but our enemies don't see it that way."

"So," said Brago, "Galter doesn't hate you, he hates your family. That's stupid."

"Oh, no, he hates me personally, too. We've met up before, and interchanged a lot of really nice words. He said he was going to kill me and rip the pin form my charred corpse during the demon war last time I saw him."

"_Tell_ _them who started the verbal disagreements, Hyphae,_" wrote Amaya.

"I-**I** did. But I only called him ugly because he is!"

"_You're an idiot,_" Amaya wrote.

Sherry finished her ice-cream, which poor Brago had not gotten any of. (He didn't really want any.)

"And… his spells are really strong, too…" Hyphae muttered, her voice turning serious. "So, I figure we need some help. Your mushrooms if we win, deal?"

Hyphae reached out her hand to Brago. "Deal?"

Brago shook on this, though he didn't like the idea of making physical contact with the insane mushroom girl in any way other than punching her. "Deal," he said.

"_We're allies now_," read a certain notebook that everybody exept for Brago could read. "_Or at least we'll fight one battle together. Maybe we should meet tomorrow somewhere where we can show each other our spells, get to know each other, and find out what the hell we're doing."_

…………..

Okay, Chapter 10 is all done! Yay! I managed to get quite a few chapters out over the long weekend! (Well, it's the morning before school starts, now…)

Now you shall review, or The Little Prince (who I do NOT own, stupid disclaimer…) will make you draw him a sheep! By God, how I hate that book!


	11. Bedtime and BreakfastTime

**Chapter 11: Bedtime and Breakfast-time**

Nihao! That's Chinese for 'hello'. I felt like saying it. My chess team qualified for the state competition! I'm so happy! (As you can guess from my penname, I really like chess, though I'm not too good.) But I may have to go to England during that time… At times, I hate travels. No… Now that that useless information's out of the way, I can actually begin to write the story,

Disclaimer: Guess what? I don't own Konjiki no Gash Bell _or_ the Mushrooms of Time! Big surprise! I don't own anything at all here except for my OCs.

Now, on to the story!

…………….

Sherry had given Amaya the name and address of the hotel they were staying at and told her to meet outside of it at six-thirty the next morning. Though Hyphae had protested such an early meeting time, Amaya agreed after hitting her partner with the notebook. The Japanese teenager dragged the squealing demon away by her red cloak, much to the relief of Brago.

"So that's the mushroom team…" Brago muttered. He already disliked Hyphae.

"She seemed nice," Sherry absently voiced aloud, referring to Amaya. Her mind was elsewhere, as she was wondering how Amaya cast spells, anyway, and what sort of spells they would have. Sherry was also asking herself what to do with the rest of the day. She honestly didn't expect to find the other team so quickly.

"You better be referring to the human," said Brago, rubbing his cheek where Hyphae had punched him.

…………..

Somehow, Sherry had managed to kill the rest of the day in an art museum without Brago complaining _too_ much. After taking a taxi cab back to the hotel, Sherry decided to get into her pajamas and read in the hotel bed.

The air conditioner wouldn't turn off. It was busted. Sherry had already called the concierge-they said they'd get a repairman up there in the morning. Though it was warm summertime outside, in the room it was most certainly not. Sherry quickly made her way to the bed and opened up a novel.

Brago, who was sitting on the foot of the bed, apparently staring into space, let out a tiny yawn as Sherry turned one of the pages of her book.

"Tired?" she asked as Brago got off the foot of the bed to rest in the armchair on the opposite side of the room. The demon didn't answer; he just closed his eyes and lay back on the cushion. Apparently he was. Sherry went back to reading her novel.

Sherry heard the demon stir several times. When she finally looked up from her book, he was curled up on the seat, but he soon turned in other directions, and he didn't look very comfortable in any of them. Before she could think about it, Sherry blurted, "You need more rest than you're going to get there. How about you sleep here in the bed?"

Sherry immediately felt incredibly stupid for asking this, remembering Brago was indeed fourteen, not six…

Brago, who had developed a great dislike for the armchair, however, did not refuse the offer, but went over to the very opposite edge of the mattress, almost to a place where he could fall off the edge, which he soon did.

Sherry couldn't help but suppress a small laugh as he stood back up, slightly shaken.

"That was _not_ funny," Brago muttered as he climbed back onto the bed, this time not so far from the edge, and closer to Sherry.

"You're right, it wasn't," said Sherry, the traces of a smile still lingering on her face.

Sherry shut her book, set it on the bed stand and turned the lamp she had been reading by out.

"Don't sleep late like yesterday," said Brago coldly as he shut his eyes, and curled up under the covers as refuge from the evil that was the broken A/C.

"Goodnight," Sherry responded, somewhat irritably, closing her own eyes.

…………..

It was six thirty-two.

"They're _late_," said the small girl, crossing her arms. "We could have slept two more minutes, but no, we just had to come this early," said Hyphae, looking at the clock through the window of the hotel.

A whack in the nose with a notebook stopped the whining about the two-minute delay, but started Hyphae on a 'why-did-you-hit-me-Amaya?' tirade.

Amaya's attention turned away from her partner and towards the rotating door of the hotel as a woman in a pink dress and a small boy clad in black walked out.

Amaya tapped rather loudly on the hotel glass to draw Sherry's attention, and waved as she noticed the noise and turned to them. She opened up her notebook to write, "_How about breakfast? Hyphae and I haven't eaten."_

"We haven't eaten, either," said Sherry.

"_Do you know any good places around here?_" Amaya scribbled.

"I'm not from around here, so I wouldn't know any. Why don't we eat at the restaurant at the hotel?"

Amaya nodded, and then turned to Hyphae, almost glaring.

"What?" The demon looked up at her bookkeeper with innocent-looking eyes, an expression Amaya had learned not to trust.

"I'll be good if you take us to a buffet for lunch…" Hyphae said, smiling a little. This earned a harsh glare in her direction.

"The hotel restaurant it is," said Sherry, turning around and going back through the rotating door, shortly followed by Brago and the mushroom team.

…………..

As the waiter cleared the plates, Amaya opened her notebook on the table. "_What first?_" she wrote, tilting the notebook to where Sherry could read it.

"We are going to fight a battle together, right? We should probably know about each other's spells, and maybe practice some of them," Sherry answered.

Brago, narrowed his eyes. When Sherry finally decided she wanted to train, it just had to be with that stupid mushroom-girl…

"_Where do we go to practice spells? Do we head out to the Dunes, or get a driver and find a field out in the suburban hell of Northwest Indiana?_" Sherry figured the girl had been doing her research about the surrounding area, but what did Amaya have against Northwest Indiana? After a short pause, Amaya added, _"I don't care for the suburbs much. They're pretty dull and not very scenic."_

"What?" asked Brago, who could not read.

"Nothing, just something about saving your relationship with Sherry," said Hyphae.

"I understand that making out might be uncomfortable due to your age difference," she finished, crossing her arms under the spotted red cloak.

Amaya picked up the notebook and whacked Hyphae on the cheek as hard as she could. Brago, who was certain that Amaya's note had not had anything to do with matters such as _that_, glared at the girl in the strange hat.

"_I'm so sorry,_" Amaya wrote. "_I should have never let her look through the cheap romance novels at the bookstore in the airport_."

"It's… no problem, really," Sherry said, though it sounded as if there was.

"So, to the Dunes!" cheered Hyphae happily.

The others sitting at the table had not recovered from her previous statement.

…………..

Yeah, this chapter pretty much just served to move the story along. Nothing actually happened…. Sorry. _Something_ will happen in a few next-times, I swear!

Review or you'll contract smallpox! ... What?! It's been eliminated from the world?! … Oh, I see… Well, there are imaginary donuts for the reviewers… So review!


	12. In My Own Voice

**Chapter 12: In My Own Voice**

I, Coffee, the incredibly unconfident in her own abilities, welcome you to the horribly horrible Chapter Twelve of my story! I might have overlooked a typo or two in here… Today was a little tiring. (Stupid pep rallies…) And I know the title sucks…. Whetever Since I have nothing else even semi-related to this story to say, on to the disclaimer everyone just _loves_! 

**Disclaimer:** If you think I own anything I may mention (ex: Konjiki no Gash Bell, the Mushrooms of Time), you are sadly mistaken, my friend. I do, however own my OCs.

…………..

The four set down the bags they had recently bought bags and looked about the clearing. It was quiet and not many (if any) hikers used any of the trails around it. It was perfect for practicing spells.

"Let's get this done soon so we can do down to the beach by Mount Baldy, okay?" said Hyphae, clearly excited.

"I don't want to hear your voice ever again," Brago said rather coldly. He was still shaken from Hyphae's statement at the hotel restaurant. That girl had to be the most twisted, sick-minded eight-year-old in existence… To just say something like _that, _that loudly in public…

"So, your relationship with Sherry is secret, then?" Hyphae asked, twirling the strand of her short blonde hair that fell in the front of her ears. This question served to annoy Brago even more than he already was. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about your love for each other." Where in hell did this girl get her ideas?

"Shut up, will you?" asked Brago, obviously incredibly irritated. Upon saying this, he threw a punch at Hyphae. This started a fight that went unnoticed by the bookkeepers (as did the previous conversation) until not-too-nice words such as "I'll strangle you using poison oak, which is way worse than poison ivy!" and "You'll get it on yourself, too, moron!" started to come into use.

Amaya stormed over to Hyphae with a notebook reading, "_What did you say to him?" _in handwhereas Sherry blamed Brago for starting the fight.

"You hit her, didn't you? Why did you do it?" Sherry asked, as Hyphae explained to Amaya that Brago had started it by throwing the punch.

"She provoked me," said Brago, who stuck his hands into the pockets of his black overalls.

After a few minutes of pointless arguments with their demon partners, both the bookkeepers decided to give up.

"_Should we get this started? It's about time we do._" Amaya wrote, and she turned the notebook so Sherry could read it. Sherry agreed with this statement, and suggested that Amaya and Hyphae go first, and do whatever they were going to do.

"Ho do we start?" asked Hyphae.

Amaya pointed at a log and took the pale red book from the bag hanging at her side.

How is she going to do this, wondered Sherry. Amaya's mute, right?

The Japanese girl took a deep breath, and opened her mouth.

"_Hyphare!_" she shouted. Amaya had spoken.

Some sort of tendril shot from Hyphae's hand and wrapped around the log, throwing it a considerable distance. They looked weak and thin, and seemed to be made of rubber or something else soft.

"The hell?" voiced Brago, "I could rip those things in half with my bare hands."

"I told you my first spell was weak, idiot!" said Hyphae, having the tendrils veer towards Brago and stay an inch away from his face. The dark demon tried to grab at them and tear them, but Hyphae maneuvered them so he couldn't grab them, giggling a little the entire time.

Soon, the rubbery ropes retracted back into Hyphae's hands. "What the hell are those things, anyways?" Brago asked.

"Here's the dummy's version of it," explained Hyphae. "All fungi are made of these things called hyphae, singular hypha, which, of course, are my namesake. Those 'things' are the beautiful materials mushrooms and my other precious fungi are composed of!"

Beautiful? Precious? It was now obvious Hyphae really liked fungus, which most people despised.

"Now, show us what you can do," said Hyphae, putting her hands on her hips.

…………..

It was lunchtime. Amaya unpacked the sandwiches they had bought earlier from her bag, and brought them over to the three others. So much for Hyphae's buffet. Brago turned his down, and Hyphae agreed to eat it.

"Amaya, may I ask you a question?" Sherry said.

"_Okay, you can_," Amaya wrote, opening her lunch. (At this point, Hyphae had already finished all of her food and was tormenting Brago.)

"How can you cast the spells? You are mute, aren't you?" Upon hearing this, Amaya began to write.

"_We think it has to do with the magic of the book, but we're not so sure. Hyphae and I are never so sure of anything. And yes, I am mute. I was born that way. I might be getting surgery in my vocal box next year to fix it the problem._"

"That's good," said Sherry, watching the fight of the midgets proceed before her.

The two continued eating a while more, and then Amaya started to write again. She tilted the notebook towards Sherry when she was finished.

"_Why are you fighting this battle, if it's not too big of a deal? We all have out reasons, more or less, right?"_

"It's okay, I can tell you but I'll make it quick," said Sherry, turning towards Amaya. "My friend Koko is under the control of an evil demon named Zophise," Sherry's voice almost dripped with hate as she uttered the name, "and I want to save her from him. I happen to owe my life to Koko…"

_"Best of luck kicking Zophise's ass,_" Amaya wrote.

"Why are _you_ fighting, Amaya?" Sherry asked.

_"My reasons aren't as great as yours," _scribbled Amaya._ "I only decided to fight alongside Hyphae (who is not a choice companion due to her" _Amaya paused here, and then sort of made up a word_, "annoying-ness) because when I read the book, it was the first time in my life I could speak in my own voice. It's a stupid reason, I know._" Strangely, Amaya seemed sort of sad as she said this, as if it was a bad thing that this was her reason.

"It isn't stupid," said Sherry in an almost reassuring tone.

Suddenly, a certain someone started screaming quite loudly. "Sherry! Get your boyfriend off of me!"

The two girls turned towards the fight. Apparently, once Brago found he was evenly matched in strength with Hyphae (another reason he desperately _needed_ the mushroom), he resorted to pulling her hair, which proved quite effective.

As Sherry opened her mouth to lecture Brago, Amaya gave Sherry a note reading "_Let her suffer, she deserves it. You don't know her well enough."_

This, however, did not stop Sherry from storming over to make Brago let go. "Can't you two just try and get along?" Sherry asked.

After a bit of silence and staring, Hyphae opened her mouth, and said, "We really should get back to training. But, before that, I have suggestions on what to do!"

"You see," she continued, "Gatler's power is guns. They cause a bunch of pain, way more than those stupid things humans use. Those don't even hurt all that much."

Sherry blinked. Don't hurt? _Guns?_ And how would she know?

"_Hyphae pisses off everyone, including nut-jobs with guns," _wrote Amaya, as if to answer the question Sherry had been asking mentally.

"Anyways, I say we practice dodging," said Hyphae. "Because if his spells hit us, we're screwed, and we can't be using bunches of spells up just to block the stupid things."

…………..

"Hey, quit it!" yelled Brago, trying to block the water that Hyphae was splashing on him. That didn't stop her, of course.

"You're glad you're wearing the bathing suit now, aren't you?" asked Hyphae, splashing around a little in the water of the lake.

"No," he replied. "I think I'm going to get dressed and go on a walk."

"Aaw, but if you'll do that, I'll have no one to tor— I mean play with!" whined Hyphae.

This earned the girl a glare as Brago walked to the bag and fished out his overalls, shoes, socks and striped shirt from between some jeans and a pink dress.

Brago really wished that that he didn't need Hyphae's help. He swore he would punch her in the face once he got back to being fourteen…

…………..

The end! I need to think of better threats to make people review. So… Yeah. 

Review, please! Even if it isn't all that good.


	13. Hyphae Likes Food

**Chapter 13: Hyphae Likes Food**

Hello, readers! Today, I bring you Chapter 13 of my story. Triskaidekaphobia, anyone? Be brave, you triskaidekaphobic readers out there!

IT'S TERRIBLE! The track season has started… And… I suck.

Now on to the wonderful, funderful disclaimer and the story.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Konjiki no Gash Bell, the Mushrooms of Time or anything else I may mention here… aside from my OCs. They're mine. Miiine.

…………..

"So," said Hyphae, drying her hair with a towel they had brought along, "What's for dinner?"

"Is all you ever think about food?" asked Brago, glaring at the girl.

"_She thinks about things to drink sometimes_," wrote Amaya. Hyphae nodded in agreement, smiling broadly. She knew that this was not something she should take pride in, but Hyphae did anyways.

"You do realize I can't understand a word of that, right?" the illiterate Brago said.

"I'll teach you!" Hyphae said, her lips twisting into an evil grin.

"I'm not going believe anything you say! You'll tell me all the wrong words! Hell, the only reason I'm even playing along with this whole thing is because it's my only hope!"

"That it is, freak-o."

"What did you call me?"

"You heard!" Here, another fight started.

Amaya narrowed her eyes and walked over by Sherry, who, in her opinion, was the only other sane person in the group in an attempt to get some quiet away from Hyphae and Brago's fighing.

Amaya decided to ask Sherry's consort on the subject Hyphae had brought up earlier: Dinner. "_Since we're staying in Chicago, we should have pizza. How about it, if you don't mind having dinner with us? My treat._"

"No, it'll be my treat," said Sherry, consenting to go with this statement. It was about five thirty, and the driver they had hired was waiting in a nearby lot for them. They'd have awhile to go to their rooms to freshen up, as all four of them had been in the water at some point.

"_We should get going if we want to get back soon enough."_

Sherry nodded. "I'll tell them," she said. Sherry then turned to the squabbling children. "We're going to head back now," Sherry said, with a tone that might remind one of a mother.

"Okay!" Hyphae just walked away from the fight, smiling broadly. Brago was irritated by the entire ordeal… but we could expect that from Brago, couldn't we?

They all got up and trudged towards a lot that allowed hikers to park their cars and look at maps of the routes. Their trail was mostly uphill, something Hyphae did not like. To pass this time, Hyphae named every single type of fungus that lined their path. Brago was greatly annoyed by this, but didn't mind the incline at all. The two started bickering again. The bookkeepers just kept walking along, trying to ignore their partners' little fight.

…………..

The girl let out a shriek as she opened up the menu.

"They're eating mushrooms here!" Hyphae yelled in absolute horror, all the while still looking through the menu. "It's inhumane, I tell you! Eating mushrooms is cruelty at its worst! If you're starved and have nothing else, okay… but… just look at the menus!" Hyphae stopped whining. "I think we should get the meat-lover pizza."

A flying notebook met Hyphae's cheek. Brago's spoon also made it to her forehead. Hyphae seemed pretty much un-phased by this all, preceded to drink the rest of her Pepsi.

Amaya was scribbling something in her notebook, which she showed to Sherry. "_A dinner table may not be the best place to talk of this, but concerning Gatler: We should stay put here in Chicago, as he will find us. Because of the way Gatler is, according to Hyphae, there is no way to sense him, so we should remain alert for attacks of any type. It'd sure be a pain to fight in the city, huh? We should try to lure him out to the dunes, or maybe a park somewhere."_

Sherry, who had fought her last battle, the one against Mhira and Araine in a rather populated area had to agree with this. At least the people there had the good sense to hide.

The food came, and they ate the pizza. Can you guess who ate an entire third all by themself? Soon, the teams parted and headed back to their separate hotels.

…………..

"What are you doing?" asked Sherry, as Brago set up a cushion of housecoats and towels on the floor, apparently so he could sleep there.

"I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you again," Brago said, rather flatly.

Sherry frowned slightly. "Fine, suit yourself," she said, turning over in her own bed. After a few moments she sat back up. "Why exactly have you changed your mind so much from last night?"

"You're a female," he answered.

"You didn't seem to have a problem with it last night," Sherry replied, and then added with sarcasm, "or was it that you just did not know that I was a woman until recently? Just get in the bed; it's more comfortable than the floor and the towels for sure."

Brago only said, "It's like you want me to sleep in the same bed as you."

"Oh, forget about you!" Sherry lay back down and turned over to a place where Brago couldn't see her face, which was completely red.

…………..

I know this one was kind of short and stupid, sorry. Soon it'll get better, I swear! Oh, wait, I always say that.

And… good news! I got an idea for a sequel… if, that is, I ever finish this one, and feel like writing that one. Ehe… I really am terribly lazy. Someone should hit me with something, say an ice-cream scoop.

Review, or your children/future children will become slaves of Myspace Overlord Tom! (Yeah, I'm no good with threats.)


	14. My Life Plan

**Chapter 14: My Life Plan**

So here's chapter fourteen. I'm getting this up before I go on vacation… again. I'm going to London this time! I'll leave Tuesday night. And I dare say chapter fifteen will be serious! So I'll probably delay writing it forever. Sorry in advance if I do so.

**The title of this chapter: **'My Life Plan' is a phrase in the song 'Fun Fun Fun Okay'. By The Pillows. I know it sounds stupid, but it's actually pretty catchy. I have no idea what most of the words mean, as only a scattered few are in English, but just by the melody, I think the song suits Hyphae perfectly.

And, yeah, I do like Monty Python quite a bit. And, I also have more than one Boogiepop reference here…

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Konjiki no Gash Bell, the Mushrooms of Time, or anything else I may mention in this story. There are quite a few things I do mention that I don't own. I do, however, own my OCs.

…………..

"I'm tired, it's cold, it's wet, and I want to go back to bed!" the girl angrily yelled. The night had brought a downpour of rain upon Chicago and its surrounding areas, including the Dunes. Puddles were about everywhere one tried to step, and the ground beneath them nothing more than mud.

Even Brago was not in the mood to tell Hyphae to shut up and suck it up. However, Amaya was.

"_We all are tired. (Except for demon-child #2, possibly.)_" This was a nickname she had came up with for Brago. Hyphae was demon-child #1. "_It's not that cold. We've been wetter. Shut up already. Besides, the fact that you're incredibly tired is your own fault, you stayed up late watching pay-per-view movies._"

However, Sherry was the only one who fully read this at the time. Hyphae, who had scanned it quickly and decided to disregard it for the most part, was already off annoying Brago, who, suddenly, was indeed in the mood to argue.

Carefully out of the earshot of the two bookkeepers, Hyphae said, "I bet you were up re-e-eal late last night with Sherry, huh?"

"You've got something wrong with your brain! That's just screwed up!" Brago nearly yelled back at her, which Amaya and Sherry could hear, but they had already grown used to their partners' arguing.

After a few punches were thrown, and Hyphae surrendered, not wanting to get mud on her clothing, Brago spoke again. "Now read the damned notebook."

"Since I'm such a wonderful person, I'll do just that," said Hyphae.

"Keep saying that to yourself," muttered Brago under his breath.

Hyphae asked Amaya to show her the notebook again, which the teenage girl did, afterwards rolling it up for a strike if Hyphae said anything stupid.

Hyphae read the message off aloud to Brago without altering it to her own liking even a bit.

Brago looked up at Amaya. "And I suppose I'm demon child number one?"

Amaya nodded 'yes' in response.

Brago narrowed his eyes slightly. "We're the same age." This was essentially true, though not at the moment.

The dark-haired woman scribbled something in her notebook, one of the corners of her lips turned upwards in an asymmetrical expression, her expression saying, 'Okay, you won, freak-o'. Amaya turned the notebook to Hyphae.

"Amaya says to shut up," Hyphae said, once again leaving the message as it was.

…………..

Hyphae sat on the foot of the bed and flipped through the pay-per-view selections. "Junk, junk, this one sounds like porn, junk, junk… And why is there a Final Destination 3?"

Brago shrugged from the floor. "How the hell should I know?" he said, crossly.

Brago was not enjoying himself. Amaya and Sherry had gone to a nice restaurant, and left their mamono partners in Amaya's room, due to their own request. Or Hyphae's request, saying that she'd 'baby-sit' Brago. Brago didn't want to go, anyways. Amaya had ordered Hyphae room service, and then hid the phone so she couldn't order more. Brago, though offered a meal, had declined.

Finally, Hyphae had decided to flip channels, and had come upon Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

"This is a good one," Hyphae said, "It can probably even make _you_ laugh." After a few moments, of giggling slightly at the subtitles on the credits and silence from Brago, Hyphae spoke again. "_Can_ you laugh?"

"I can, I just choose not to," was Brago's answer.

"Aaw, but laughing is fun!" said the mushroom mamono, unlatching her cape from the pin at the front of the upturned collar, revealing her white-short-sleeved shirt. Her red, spotted hat lay on the desk in the hotel room, over Amaya's copy of Seiichi Kirima's VS Imaginator.

Scenes passed. Hyphae laughed, whereas Brago just stared blankly at the screen. As the girl watched the screen and listened to the dialogue, she also carefully listened in on any noises Brago might have made to see if he found it funny, but not even a snicker could be heard.

"Geez, they should write a manga about this. 'Brago Doesn't Laugh' would be a good title, huh?" joked Hyphae.

Brago didn't answer.

On went the film. As you may have guessed, reader, not a single scene was enough to make the dark mamono laugh. Not even the killer rabbit, which sent Hyphae into a hysterical fit for the entire duration of the scene.

Hyphae turned of the TV set and turned on the lights as the movie ended.

"Stupid ending…" muttered Brago.

"Well, duh," said Hyphae, "It was supposed to be stupid and unexpected. You don't get humor, do you?"

"I don't, nor do I don't care to."

"I bet you'd think a joke was an actual question! Lesse… What's the difference between Michael Jackson and a plastic grocery bag?" asked Hyphae, her question clearly a joke.

"How the hell should I know?" asked Brago, "I don't even know who that is!"

"_Le gasp_!" exclaimed Hyphae, "You don't know of the creature who defies race and gender?!"

Brago decided not to question Hyphae on the term 'le gasp', but instead tell her that he'd rather not know.

"Fine," said Hyphae, who then looked up at the ceiling in thought. When she spoke again, she said, "Hey, we mamono have been fighting in Ningenkai for about a year now, right?"

"Right," answered Brago, rather coldly. "Why do you ask?" Brago was only showing interest in what Hyphae was saying because her voice sounded somewhat serious_---_ not at all like her normal, carefree tone.

Still sounding one-hundred percent serious, Hyphae asked, "Why haven't you made a move on Sherry yet?"

"You have to got be kidding," Brago growled, highly irritated. "I actua_---_"

Hyphae cut him off, her voice now full of mirth. "Oh, come on, now! Admit it. It's obvious you care about her like that!"

"You've known me for less than a week," muttered Brago.

"It's just that obvious!" Hyphae cheered, smiling broadly. "Don't tell me you haven't even _tried_ kissing, just out of curiosity!"

Brago, now very angry, said, "We haven't. Do you honestly think either Sherry or I would consider that?"

"Honestly, no, but you know you want to," said Hyphae in a singsong voice, her smile growing bigger.

Brago was about ready to pound Hyphae, when she said, "I was half kidding. Anyways, it's been about a year, right?"

"Yeah." Brago figured that if Hyphae was half kidding, she's have to be half serious, but the girl had entirely dropped the subject.

"Well, we've been here for a while, right? You seem pretty clueless about the place. I've actually been working pretty hard to sponge up info on Ningenkai, but you think you'd at least pick up some information on something, right? Like being able to read a few common words here and there on a sign, or understanding something in the news, like the conflict in the Middle East?"

"I haven't. It isn't my concern."

Hyphae frowned. "I think it would be your concern! Ningenkai's an amazing place, as far as communication and such goes! What has the Makai got over it? Magic, for the most part. We should be, and I am, learning about the world we're in so we can improve our own!" She paused, looking thoughtful.

Brago stared at her, wondering what come from Hyphae next. The normal idiocy, or something that actually had more of a point to it?

"To be truthful I came into this battle just wanting to come out un-maimed and such. But, after awhile, and battling a few idiots who had really stupid ideas or no idea at all for their would-be future kingdom, I began to get an idea that the Makai would really go completely to hell, you know?"

No reply came from the dark demon.

"And, so I began to get the idea of a Makai Renaissance!" Hyphae's lips curved into a smile. "And at the head of it would be me, the Enlightened Queen!"

Brago smirked. "It's too bad for you that will never happen. **I'm** going to become _King_." He put emphasis on the word 'King', as if the word 'Queen' should never, under any circumstance, take its place. "Our alliance is only temporary, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Hyphae said, frowning. She then grinned, showing most of her teeth. The usual had come to her. "But your love for Sherry is forever, huh, Brago?"

And so began another fight.

…………..

So, the chapter ends. You see why I chose 'My Life Plan' for a title? Even kinda sorta?

Ah, whatever. Anyhow, I had trouble uploading this for about two days, as I finished typing it out on Saturday. At least they fixed it before my vacation... (Now if only those DVDs I ordered online would do the same thing...)

Review, or you will be receiving a visit from some homicidal garden gnomes!


	15. Sniper

**Chapter 15: Sniper**

My mother has suspended my e-mail account. I am sneaking on on hers. I am currently grounded from the Internet due to grades. I might be grounded all summer. I guess I'll pass my time reading Boogiepop… Well, since I risked my ass for this chapter, I hope you enjoy it!

On a happier note, I was accepted into this one fancy writing camp somewhere…

The title of this short chapter comes from The Pillows song 'Ride on Shooting Star', which is the ending theme to the anime FLCL. I was wondering what to name this chapter, listening to my Ipod, and… well… _**SNIPER**__ fuchi totta sono sekai ni nani ga mieru tte iu n da…. _Yeah. The word sorta jumped out at me, and I sorta liked it… Even though Gatler displays behavior the exact opposite of a sniper's. (Except maybe for his last statement.) Is this what we call reverse psychology? The world may never know. Oh, and by the way, it took me 118 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie pop. They were big licks, though.

As I said, this chapter is kinda serious, or at least it gets to be so. Uhm, yeah.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Konjiki no Gash Bell, the Mushrooms of Time or anything that I might mention. Except for my OCs.

…………..

"Guess what I found in a used-item discount box at this really cheap store?! I didn't even know they put this on DVD!" Hyphae waved a box in the air.

"Another crappy movie?" asked Brago, almost groaning. Amaya and Sherry had left them alone again, this time to pick up some sandwiches they'd have for lunch at a food court in the mall. They all needed a restock some sundry items, at that.

"Right-o!" cheered Hyphae. "Only 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' wasn't crappy. The 1960 George Pal version of the Time Machine _is_."

"So why in hell did you buy it?"

"Because it sucks!" Hyphae giggled as she said this.

Her reasoning wasn't the type Brago understood, so he decided it best not to speak. Maybe she'd go away. Maybe. Yeah, right.

"The special effects, acting, and music are so unbelievably cheesy it's funny. And, best of all, the Morlocks look like smurfs on steroids," Hyphae explained, though the explanation was unwanted. "Amaya's hotel room has a DVD player. Wanna watch it with me?"

"No," Brago answered.

"Aaw, why not?" Hyphae asked, prodding Brago's shoulder with the corner of the box, and quickly swiping it away as he tried to take it from her.

Brago said, "I don't want to. You asked, and I gave you your answer. I don't plan to tell you any more." He wanted to clarify that.

The bookkeepers walked up to their demon partners, and Amaya handed Hyphae a sandwich.

"Aaw, only one?" the female mamono whined. After receiving a harsh glare from Amaya, Hyphae decided to change the subject. "Sherry, do you want to watch this with me tonight?" asked Hyphae, smiling broadly and tugging on the hem of Sherry's dress. "It sucks!"

"What is it you want me to watch?" Sherry asked.

"The 1960 George Pal Version of the Time Machine," Hyphae said. "The special effects are so corny it's hilarious. They're even cheesier than Dr. Who, and they once made 'aliens' by wrapping guys in tinfoil!"

No reply came from anyone.

"Okay, so, what are we doing today? Training or checking out the U505 to find its weak points?" asked Hyphae, smiling broadly.

"And why would we do that?" asked Brago, who had no idea what this 'U505' was. "What the hell is that, anyways?"

"Why, it's an old German submarine America captured from the Second World War!"

"We have to find the weak points why?" asked Brago, who was utterly bewildered by the girl's insane chatter.

Amaya looked at Sherry with a glance that said, 'Oh, god, no'.

"Because," Hyphae said, almost sighing, "The Nazis are going to take over Lake Michigan in the U505!" Her voice had gone from calm, to frenzied, and rather loud. "We must find away to stop them!"

There was silence. Hyphae, who had yelled this, was now attracting quite a few stares. Amaya put her hand to her forehead, praying that Brago wouldn't try and start a fist fight.

Hyphae stopped her tirade. "You forgot to buy us drinks."

"_Buy them yourself._" Amaya wrote, tossing a five dollar bill that was in her pocket to Hyphae.

The girl left and went into the store nearby. Brago leaned back against his chair back, relieved that the storm had passed, at least for now.

Under her previous statement, Amaya wrote, "_Well, she's gone now… Hopefully there's a long line._"

Sherry frowned. "Do you really dislike Hyphae that much?"

"I can understand why," Brago mumbled.

"_Sorta. Well, she's like a stupid little sister, I guess_." The Japanese girl wrote.

As Amaya punctuated this sentence, a scream ripped through the air. The voice was definitely Hyphae's. Though screaming loudly in public was not unusual behavior for the mushroom girl, there was something different about this scream.

It was not an excited, hyper, and joking, but it seemed as if the mamono was actually terrified.

The scream was coupled with a loud crash, made by a trash receptacle tipping over.

"What the hell did she do now?" Brago asked, turning to Amaya, who shrugged, getting up. She turned her head to the side and made a jerking motion that seemed to say, 'follow me, if you want'.

Amaya walked off, her back to the team of the black book. She didn't look back at them.

"I think something's wrong," Sherry voiced aloud.

Brago raised an eyebrow-less eyebrow at this, and slipped off the chair to the floor, groaning. "That girl is a major pain in the ass…"

Sherry and Brago walked over to the area from where the scream had originated.

Hyphae was frozen except for shaking, almost leaning backwards over an overturned trash bin. Amaya was gripping her bag, and fumbling to get her book out, staring at the same place Hyphae was.

The dark team's gaze drifted towards where their allies' was.

"Hello, we haven't spoken in a while, _my old childhood friend_." The person spoke those words in the direction of Hyphae, using a large amount of sarcasm.

"Not here, not now…" Hyphae repeated the phrase as she backed up in a slow, clumsy attempt to get away from the person, causing the trash bin to roll backwards.

The person, about the size of a ten-year-old child, was most definitely Gatler, from Hyphae's expression of fear. Sherry, though she had known Hyphae was afraid of Gatler, had no idea her level of terror for him was so intense.

There was no way the being could be human, He did not have any body tissues. As far as Sherry could tell, Gatler was a walking skeleton, covered with a hat and a long, black trench-coat. A red light that came from an unknown source shone from within his otherwise empty eye-sockets.

"It's been a long while," Hyphae said, trying to put on the guise of being calm and collected, "Do you have that twenty dollars you owe me?"

Gatler fake-laughed. "You still have that absolutely ridiculous and crude sense of humor, don't you?" he asked, coldly. "It's not very becoming of a young lady, or one in a position such as yours."

"Such as mine?" Hyphae scoffed, trying to hide the fear and nervousness in her voice without much success.

"Such as yours, yes. Hell, you've got a dumb bitch for a partner; I've got a goddamn football player as mine. My powers are better than yours, I'm also just stronger."

Sherry looked for this partner of Gatler's, trying to find someone who would fit the description of a football player. It didn't take her long. Standing behind Gatler at the front of the crowd that had gathered around them, was a tall, somewhat muscular man, maybe nineteen, with incredibly short, light hair. He didn't seem incredibly interested by what Galter was saying, nor did he seem to not care about the issue at all. The keeper of the black book knew she had the right person when she saw the pale grey book he held at his side.

"And little Hyphae even went crying to another team for help, and for some stupid-ass reason or another, they agreed. I can't believe anyone could lack such common sense! My list of to-be K.I.A. is now numbering at four," Gatler continued, his moving jaw hidden by the collar of his black coat.

"This guy is starting to piss me of…" Brago hissed at Sherry's side.

"How… How did you know about that?" Hyphae asked, shaking slightly. Amaya was clutching her pale red book, also quivering a bit. Gatler, frankly, was a scary person, like something out of a horror movie.

"Don't think I don't watch my target. Hell, if I wanted to, I could have just killed you off from complete obscurity whenever I wanted to, until you left the city-limit, that was. It just wouldn't have been _fun_. I have to admit I thought you were running the first time you went outside of Chicago to wherever the hell you went, though. It's a shame for you that you didn't, really."

Hyphae growled slightly. "Not here, Gatler, not in public. Please!"

"Hmph, you and your company don't want your humiliation to be public, eh?" Gatler said, his voice full of confidence in his victory. "I'll be kind. By tomorrow, select a place for your… _execution_." His voice seemed to fill with joy as he said the last word. "Be there at noon. We'll be there by twelve thirty. Come, Stephon."

The nineteen-year old athlete turned around and walked alongside Gatler. Hyphae sighed and sunk to her knees in relief, when Gatler turned his head around towards her. "Don't even think of running. I _will_ play sniper, if you do."

…………..

Done. Chapter Finito. Battle scene next.

Anyhow, the character Gatler and his bookkeeper, Stephon, were almost entirely created by my 11-year-old brother, Steve. (Uh, yeah…) So, give Steve a hand.

Now, review, or you will find no clean underwear in your house tomorrow, whatsoever!


	16. Start at the Gunfire

**Chapter 16: Start at the Gunshot**

Me has changed my penname. (Yes, I know that wasn't proper English. So sue me. Wait, can you do that?!) Why? Well, I wanted something shorter, and all that old _nom de plume_ had going for it was alliteration, so I took a line from the chorus of the song 'Crazy Sunshine', by, guess who, that's right, the pillows! (It's supposed to be in lowercase, I learned. Actually, I've know for awhile, but never got out of the habit of capitalizing the band name.) And that line would of course be 'TightropeDancing'. Sooo… Yeah.

I really like some of the lines in the music by the pillows. If I ever get around to writing a sequel to this, it's probably going to be called 'Banana Roulette', another line out of 'Crazy Sunshine', and I'm actually writing something up (I have it all planned out, and two chapters written in a notebook somewhere! Actually, it's a binder with loose-leaf, but whatever…) called 'March of the God', which is an instrumental by the pillows, though the words 'Yes, more Right!' are repeated about eight times. All the title chapters in that are named after songs by the pillows, and I named an OC after the lead singer. Only the first name, tho'. Go figure.

Enough about the pillows, though they are awesome and Sawao Yamanaka doesn't age!

Anyways, as I hinted at before, there's going to be a sequel to this, more than likely called 'Banana Roulette'. Why's there gonna be a sequel? Mainly because I have loads of strange and unusual lines for Hyphae that I can never use in this time! And we all _love_ Hyphae, don't we? –silence- Yeah, right. But I want to put out a few other things before I get to that…. So… Yeah.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything, aside from my OCs.

The almighteh aliens decree story time!

…………..

The car ride to the dunes was strangely silent (except for the radio the hired driver had playing, that was), due to the fact Hyphae was not mouthing off to Brago and starting a commotion. Instead, the female mamono was shaking slightly and staring out the window, in completely hushed. Hyphae had never seemed the type to scare easily. Even now, Sherry figured she wasn't, and she most definitely had some sort of strange phobia of Gatler.

Hyphae swallowed loudly, causing all in the car, excluding the driver, to stare at her. She mumbled something along the lines of how she should 'not let certain death put me down', and turned to Brago, who, knowing what came next, gave her a venomous glare.

Hyphae leaned over by Brago. "Hey," she whispered to him, "Aren't you going to confess your undying love for Sherry before you get killed?" All this got was another glare in reply. "Oh, come on..." she continued, "Since we've gotta get there early, you two will have time to make out!"

"Oh, shut the hell up!" Brago responded angrily but quietly, "Do you know how screwed up that would be at my current age?"

"Oh, so you want to kiss her, only you feel uncomfortable about it? I figured this problem might come up," said Hyphae, putting her hand to her chin as if she was actually thinking about something.

"No! Just… shut up!" Here, the two started a little fistfight, which most definitely cheered Hyphae up for the time.

Since this was all going on in whispers, the bookkeepers, who had lost interest in Hyphae's antics early on, did not hear. Instead, Amaya was teaching Sherry some hand-signals they could use, as Amaya wouldn't have time to write in the notebook during the fight, of course.

Soon, the party arrived at the Dunes. Hyphae's usual cheerful teasing of Brago ceased as the time passed. This gave the group an abnormal, uncomfortable feeling as they stood in the wooded area.

Hyphae fidgeted nervously, adjusting her hat every few seconds. She seemed to be in quite the twitchy mood.

"When we beat that ass, and I get back to normal, you sure as hell better be this afraid of me," Brago muttered to Hyphae, noting the girl's strange behavior. Sherry shot a reprimanding glance at Brago as he said this, but he pretended to ignore it.

"Nope," Hyphae responded with a big, evil-looking grin. Giving her something to talk about made her seem almost fine. "Because I know that deep down, Brago dear, I'm your best friend in the whole world and you'd _never_ think to seriously injure me! I'll cross-dress and be the best man at your wedding for you!"

This got some pretty weird stares.

Soon, twelve thirty came along, and Gatler and his partner Stephon could be seen walking down the path to the clearing. Once again, Hyphae seemed to be freaked out.

The opposite team arrived, and without word, Gatler raised his arm, pointing at Hyphae's head.

"_Maguno!_"

…………..

Short chapter. Sorry.

Now, review, or I'm going to have to find another threat.


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